


Shot Week III: Spooky Time

by TheMondayChild



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-23 03:50:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 75,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12498100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMondayChild/pseuds/TheMondayChild
Summary: In the Halloween edition of Shot Week, we have: a lover tired of being betrayed, a jealous husband, the love life of a village miko, a beautiful dreamer, a divine romance, a camping trip gone wrong, and a high school crush that gets out of hand.





	1. Through the Ages

**Note: I must emphasize that the goal here was to get the stories done, not to make them good. You're gonna notice since it's very obvious these are lacking in quality because they were very rushed and not edited. I thought it would be good for me to write no matter what it was or how it turned out just to keep myself writing. I've got a lot going on right now but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing, at least not until everything that is unfinished becomes finished.**

**Anyway, as you may have noticed, my name has changed. I've been thinking of doing it for years but I know name recognition is a thing and didn't want to make things confusing but I finally had to. People I know irl were finding my stuff and it was becoming awkward. My family found stuff, you guys. FAMILY. OH GOD. Thankfully it was someone who already knew and has no interest in reading, so yeah. I wanted to be called Monday's Child, but some asshat who wrote like 1 freaking story over 10 years ago already had that, so here we are.**

**~The author formerly known as Chelsea Tygers (RIP in peace)**

**_Kagome stumbles upon her destiny…_ **

**I: Through the Ages**

Kagome sat at the bus stop, her feet swinging back and forth, dirty and worn sneakers scuffing the sidewalk to a beat that could be heard only inside her head. Her shift at her second waitressing job was over and now it was time to go home and relax. By “relax”, she meant hours of homework and studying. Then she had to put her little brother to bed, help her mother clean the house, sleep for six hours, wake up, go to work, go to school, go to work, and repeat. It was exhausting, but she had to do it in order to stay in school and get a good career and be the woman her mother had never had the chance to be.

“If you’re gonna move your legs that much, might as well just walk.”

The girl jumped and turned to look at the man who had spoken. Where before there had been no one was a dark-haired guy with the most unusual dark gray eyes she’d ever seen. Straddling the bench, he faced her, hands in his pockets of his leather jacket, attention fixed on her. Though he seemed to be staring _at_ her, she couldn’t shake the rather unnerving feeling that he was actually staring _in_ her. The goosebumps she felt pop up on her skin made her wish she had worn a sweater. Kagome’s cheeks turned pink and she suddenly felt a rush of self-consciousness. It wasn’t often she was spoken to and scrutinized by such a handsome stranger.

_Spoken to._

Crap, he had said something! Now too much time had passed for her to respond without looking weird or like an idiot. But hadn’t she already managed that by silently gaping at him like a sexually frustrated virgin fish girl?

“T-the bus is late…” It was all she could think of. _Great, Kagome. You ruin things by not taking action and then ruin them even harder by taking action._

Instead of giving her an odd look before turning away, he smirked, a warm glint in his eye preventing her from feeling further embarrassed.

“You a student?” He inclined his head at her backpack.

“Oh! Uh, yeah.” She hadn’t really expected him to actually make conversation. “Are you?”

“Nah, I was done with school a while ago. What’re you studying?”

“Chemistry,” she said with the biggest, realest smile she could muster.

“You don’t like it much.”

How did he know? “Well, not really.” She decided to confide in him. “My mom always wanted to be a chemist, but then she had me, so… But it’s really hard for me.”

He scooted closer to her, so they were hardly separated at all. “What do you want?”

His simple question took her breath away. How was it that she had never even thought about it? Never allowed herself to think about it?

“I… I’m not sure.” Kagome winced, fearing she sounded stupid.

“You’re still young,” he said reassuringly. It was an odd thing coming from a man who looked no older than her. “Damn, that bus sure is taking its sweet time.”

“Yeah.” Kagome gnawed on her lip absentmindedly. Sōta would be coming home from his after-school group soon, and she needed to be at home to watch him until their mother came back from her cashier job at the pharmacy in less than an hour. If the bus didn’t hurry up, he’d be home alone and tell their mom, who would yell at her, and everything would suck and ruin the rest of the week…

“You need a ride? I can drive you.”

“You have a car?” she said in surprise. Was he just attempting to go green by being at the bus stop or what?

He smiled, dark gray eyes twinkling at her and making her cheeks flush again.

“Truth is, I only came over here because I thought you were pretty. Would’ve ridden the bus just to keep talking to you. My car’s in the parking lot across the street. I can give you a ride, but if you’re uncomfortable with that, I can call you an Uber. Pay for it an’ everything. Might take a while to get here, though.”

Worrying her lip again, she considered it. While it was weird he claimed he would have actually ridden the bus when he had a perfectly working car just to talk to someone like her, she did need a ride. And she liked him. More than liked him, Kagome trusted him. Something about his eyes made her feel like they weren’t strangers. That look he gave her, that no one else had ever given her, made her want to pursue this connection to wherever it would take her. Plus, he was hot. Hot guys didn’t murder unsuspecting women. Only gross, greasy-haired creeps did.

But if her mother found out she had accepted a ride from a male stranger and led him to their home, she’d be even angrier than she would if she were late.

A clap of thunder sounded overhead and the previously clear sky quickly filled with clouds. Rain poured down on the earth, pounding into the pavement with a fury. Kagome gave a little screech and covered her head with her backpack.

“Okay!” she said loudly, hoping he hadn’t changed his mind.

Together, they ran across the street to his car. Impressively enough, it was a new model of a luxury vehicle she didn’t think people their age could afford. Maybe he had rich parents? But he didn’t seem like the type. Lamenting the noise she made when her wet skin slid across the leather seat, she examined herself. Completely drenched. Oh gods, she must look like a drowned rat. Meanwhile, he looked like he had just stepped foot off a particularly steamy photoshoot. Buckling her seatbelt, she morosely fingered her hair, which would soon be waving and poofing all over the place after all the time she’d spent straightening it just that morning.

“So you’re the girly type now,” he chuckled.

“Hm?”

Smiling at her, he turned on the heater. “You can give me directions or type your address into the app.” He placed his phone on her bare thigh, and of course it was the latest model.

It touched her that he was so considerate of the fear she might be harboring and that he didn’t take offense. He was chivalrous, a modern-day knight. Deciding to prove that she really did trust him, she put the shrine’s address in.

Shivering despite the blast of heat, she wrapped her arms around herself, looking out the window as they drove.

“It’s really pouring! There was nothing in the forecast today about a storm. How strange.”

“Bad day to wear white,” he teased.

Kagome could almost hear her face turning deep red. “Is anything showing!?” she squeaked, looking down at herself.

The thin stretchy cotton of her white shirt had turned nearly transparent. Coupled with her white mesh lace bra, she was practically naked. At least her black pleated skirt provided her some modesty, even if it was a bit short. Why hadn’t she brought a sweater!? She always brought a sweater!

“Nothin’ I haven’t seen before.”

The cliché comment upset her on some level. Thinking of him with other women who were doubtlessly more beautiful than she could ever be and rich and smart and social and carefree made her angry. For once in her life, she was living spontaneously, and her partner was something straight out of a novel. To be reminded that he was real and had a life outside of this car ride was offensive and depressing.

“You should try hiking,” he said, shattering the cocoon she had been attempting to build around herself.

“Huh?” Gods, why did she even bother to open her mouth.

“You don’t like where you are and you don’t know where you wanna be. So try hiking. You see some beautiful things and get some exercise away from all the noise and annoying people in your life. I love it.”

He made everything sound so simple. Kagome sighed. If only she could. “I don’t have time for stuff like that. There’s school and work and chores—”

“You can make time. Drop a class or take less hours or somethin’.”

Was he so rich he didn’t know how the real world worked? “I’ll think about it. I’d like to.”

They arrived at the shrine. It seemed rude to just send him on his way.

Tentatively, she tried to meet his eyes, looking at him from beneath her lashes. She’d never had a boy in her house before, but felt like she must repay him somehow.

“W-would you like to come in? The storm’s really bad and it would be hard for you to drive.” Now that she paid attention to her surroundings, the storm _was_ pretty darn bad. It was almost scary. Her mother and Sōta would certainly be delayed.

He squinted at the sheets of rain hammering his car. “Yeah, even I would have a hard time in this mess. Got any coffee?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got hot cocoa and tea, if you’d like.”

A bright flash of lightning made her jump and she emitted another sharp tiny scream.

“That one sounded like it was right on top of us.”

In a second, he was opening her door and helping her out of the car, a true gentleman. Together, they quickly ascended the many stairs, taking shelter on the porch until she finally fished her keys out from the deep confines of her backpack. Even though she had been the one to unlock the door, he held it open for her, closing it behind the both of them and muting the rainfall until it was just a dull hum. Slipping off her shoes, Kagome switched on the lights only to be met with continued darkness.

“The power’s out!”

Always helpful, he switched on his phone’s flashlight, giving them just enough light to see by.

“Thanks,” she whispered, unsure of why she had lowered her voice. Clearing her throat, she continued, “I can still make you some cocoa or tea, if you want. It’s a gas stove and the matches are in the drawer. I just have to heat the water in the kettle and we’ll be in business.”

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

The way he said it gave her goosebumps. “Cocoa it is! Do you want marshmallows?” Trying to sound unaffected, she ended up sounding like a cartoon child. Hopefully it was still dark enough that he didn’t see her cringe in reaction.

After denying the marshmallows, he made himself at home sitting at the kitchen table while she tried to distract herself from his presence by making the drinks. It suddenly hit her that she was doing something that not only had a great possibility of being very dangerous but was also very out of character. A strange man in her family shrine? What was she thinking? But it was undeniable the feeling of security she got when she sat down next to him and sipped her drink, watching him covertly from beneath her lashes.

To her dismay, they had lapsed into complete silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence or awkward at all, but she craved to know more about him. Who he was, where he was from, what he did. Kagome needed to have a connection to him, something more than just a good Samaritan car ride. After the cocoa, she would run out of reasons to keep him with her, and he would go back to his lovers and money and fun, good deed over and done with, leaving her all alone again leading a life lived for everyone but herself. He would forget her.

She could handle anything but that.

Setting down her empty mug, she asked, “What’s your name?”

“Inuyasha.” He licked a drop of cocoa from the corner of his mouth and she felt her heart skip a beat.

“Inuyasha.” She savored the way his name made her lips and tongue move. “Inuyasha, I’m Kagome. Inuyasha, I want you to come upstairs with me.”

He grabbed her hand and let her lead the way to her bedroom. Her heart was beating so fast she was afraid she’d faint before anything was accomplished. When she looked at her bed, she felt like dying in embarrassment. A pink quilt, stuffed animals. And how had she possibly forgotten how small it was!?

“Would you believe me if I told you I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you?”

His words went straight to the place between her thighs and she audibly gasped.

“I-I’ve never done this—”

Inuyasha’s hands, rough and big, cradled her face, thumbs caressing her jaw. For the first time in her life, she was literally trembling in anticipation. When his lips met hers, there weren’t fireworks like her friends said there would be. There was just warmth. Everything in her was melting, like the marshmallows in her hot chocolate. They were becoming one just like that. She sighed into her first grown-up kiss. A man was kissing her in her bedroom and she was enjoying it. He tasted like cocoa and masculinity. How was this not a dream? His teeth nibbled on her lower lip and he pulled away.

“Get on the bed. I’m gonna give you the fucking of your life.”

Never one to use profanity and preferring people not to use it in front of her, Kagome was shocked by how aroused she became when he said that word. Her body obeyed him before she even realized what she was doing and she laid down on her bed, breathing quickly even though they’d barely kissed.

Inuyasha treated her to a strip show. There were no sexy moves, no teasing glances, just pure intense heat, his eyes boring into hers, demanding she accept all of him and enjoy it. And could she do anything but? His upper body was pure sin, rippling muscles and golden skin that made her feel as dull and pale as the waning moon. But when he unbuttoned his jeans to reveal he hadn’t been wearing any underwear, she just about passed out. His penis could have been used as a model for the giant unreal dildos she’d seen in that sex shop she entered once on a dare. Did men like this actually exist or was he some desperate fever dream she’d conjured for herself?

Slowly, he lowered himself over her, one knee in between her thighs and the other in between her and the wall. Taking her by the chin, he forced her to stop her perusal of his body and meet his eyes. His lips caught hers again and she felt almost hypnotized, or maybe under some kind of magic spell. Kagome almost giggled; didn’t kisses wake girls from spells, not put them under? Everything about him was intoxicating.

Peeling her top off her body, he threw it across the room somewhere and started sucking at her nipple straight away, not even bothering to remove her bra first. Kagome’s back arched into him automatically while her swollen lips parted, releasing a small cry of surprise and arousal. His hand traveled up her side and cupped her face, thumb running over her lower lip. Flicking her tongue at it, she sucked the tip of his thumb into her mouth and tried to give him a hint of what her mouth wanted to do to him in other places.

A soft curse escaped his lips and he was kissing her again, sucking her breath away, but it was all okay, she didn’t need to breathe ever again, not as long as the knowledge existed that he wanted her. Abruptly, he separated from her, leaving her gasping not for air but for more of him. In one rough motion, he parted her thighs, settling between them and looking at her pussy in anticipation like he was the audience awaiting actors to step onto the theater stage. With a surprisingly gentle touch, he probed her, the tips of his fingers caressing her most sensitive, secret flesh. They both moaned at the contact.

“Virgin,” he said hoarsely. “I haven’t ever been the first one to have you.” The hot kiss he planted on her clit prevented her from trying to understand what that meant. “You’re the boldest you’ve ever been and the most innocent at the same time.”

The wonder and near-worship in his voice was all she heard. “I want you to be the first one to have me, Inuyasha,” she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder. “Show me. Teach me. Make it so I belong to you.”

“I’m gonna have to hold back.” His eyes shone in the dim light of the room, making contact with hers even as he stroked her pussy lips up and down, spreading her juice and playing with her. “You’re too perfect. Don’t wanna hurt you… Never ever wanted to hurt you…” His fingers stopped. “But sometimes I can’t control myself.”

Kagome’s screams filled the room when Inuyasha’s tongue plunged inside her without warning, scooping out her wetness and lathering her clit and inner lips with it. The realization that the puddle which was quickly forming between them wasn’t just her excitement but his saliva as well had her pelvis rocking uncontrollably. Her partner, unperturbed by her frantic gyrating, merely held her legs further apart and put one hand just above her mons, caressing the silky, sensitive skin as he held her down, enhancing the feelings he coaxed from inside her. When a finger trailed down and circled her other opening, she jumped in surprise. She wanted to say no, to tell him not there, but his mouth never stopped its sweet torture and she could only touch her breasts and moan for more. With just that tiniest of touches, her thighs were trembling, and she recognized the beginnings of her orgasm and knew it was going to be so big and fantastic she would never be able to top it with her own fingers or any kind of toy. Like she’d wanted, he was making it so that she belonged to him.

And then he stopped.

“W-why?” she whined. If Kagome had been in her right mind, she would have hated how she sounded.

Inuyasha gave her clit one last kiss before turning his burning gaze on her. “You’re only going to come on my cock from now on.”

Sweating, panting, she grabbed for his erect member, desperate to have it inside her. He hissed when she touched him and trapped her hand on him by putting his over hers, the both of them guiding him to her entrance. Even though it burned as she stretched around his thick length, Kagome welcomed it, welcomed him. It didn’t hurt. Not really. Not when she knew this was where she was supposed to be and where he was supposed to be. After what felt like ages, he was fully inside her, and she could do nothing but wrap her legs and arms around him and kiss him.

“Please,” she whispered. “Do it now, Inuyasha. Show me what a real storm is like.”

Her words seem to trigger something in him. His eyes changed and became fierce, almost angry. Kagome was appalled at herself when her body reacted enthusiastically. Gods, she had never been so turned on as when his lips turned down in a snarl as he drew out of her almost all the way and then slammed right back inside, surely bruising her. She was holding him so tightly inside herself that she could feel ever curve of every vein burning itself into her, branding her forevermore.

Faster and faster he fucked her, and she could only hold on, but soon she couldn’t even do that. Her hands lost themselves in her hair and sheets and her back arched in a perfect crescent. Darkened gaze on her wildly bouncing breasts, Inuyasha treated himself to their taste once more, sucking her already diamond hard nipples until they hurt with the pleasure before he bit them just shy of savagely, making her sob out his name, tears trailing down her temples and into her hair as she begged for him to finish it and make it go on forever.

The brutal look on his face when he grabbed her behind her knees and forced her legs to her sweat and saliva-dampened chest almost shocked her. To see such handsome features twisted into something demonic would have made anyone else yell in fright at the very least, but Kagome only pushed back against his hammering thrusts as best as she could, meeting him every time. Inuyasha was so deep inside her, the position holding her wide open, and every time he pulled out from her she could see her maiden blood glistening on his engorged cock.

“You wanted a storm?” he growled, sweat dripping down his chiseled torso, racing to further lubricate their union. “Give me the thunder and I’ll fucking flood you, fill your used pussy up until it flows back out. _Come now_ , Kagome.”

At his command, her muscles contracted and light exploded everywhere in her mind. Electricity was shooting every which way inside her body and she dimly heard herself screeching his name. Kagome was barely aware how she clawed at his back and bit at his shoulder. Just when she was calming down, he gave one last extra hard thrust inside her and she was coming again, coming with him, feeling his cum shoot inside her womb with jet after hot thick jet. She trembled and whimpered in his embrace, still tightly wrapped around him in every way, not wanting to ever let her knight go.

That was it.

It had happened.

She was no longer a virgin.

The tears started even though she had no intention of letting them fall. Sniffling loudly, she realized there was no longer the hum of rain in the background. The storm was over. This was over.

“I—I never—I haven’t done this before,” she tried to say instead of sob. “I don’t even know you!”

“It’s okay, Kagome.” His voice was strong and reassuring, not at all put off by her sudden episode. Inuyasha showered her face with small, light kisses. It almost felt like he really liked her. Like he cared.

As pathetic as she knew it was, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Will you stay with me?”

“Of course.” The way he said it sounded like there wasn’t any other option. “I’ll be by your side forever.”

Thanking him with a tremulous smile, she promptly fell asleep, surrounded by his protective warmth.

**O\o/O**

When she woke up, the sky was bright and cheery, no sign of there having ever been a storm. Yawning, she glanced at her clock. Twelve. Wait. There was no way the sun was up at midnight.

Horror engulfed Kagome when she realized she hadn’t taken a nap, she had really slept all the night through until noon the next day. Blinking rapidly, she looked around the room to confirm what the sinking in her heart had already told her.

Inuyasha was gone.

Lower lip trembling uncontrollably, she sat in the pile of sheets that prominently bore the stains of her lost virginity. There was no noise in the house, meaning her family had gone about their day as usual, thinking she had already gone off to work. They’d probably let her sleep without bothering her yesterday, giving her a special treat. She probably didn’t have a job at the diner anymore. To her shock, she realized that even if the strict manager would be willing to overlook her absence, she was never going back. She might even quit her other job and drop most of her classes.

And still, the only thing that bothered her was that Inuyasha wasn’t there.

There wasn’t even a note. Kagome looked everywhere, even in her closet, but there was no scribbled apology and phone number. Nothing. Were it not for the stains and ache between her legs, she would have thought she dreamt it all. Heat flushed her cheeks and humiliation for her actions filled her. What had she done? She’d never even flirted with a boy before, and yet she’d brought a stranger home and led him upstairs and gave him her virginity. They hadn’t even used protection! Where had her mind gone? What kind of madness had possessed her that she forgot about STDs and pregnancy!?

Every minute of every day that week was filled with thoughts of Inuyasha. Kagome replayed their words over and over, desperately combing over them for something she’d said that could have driven him off. It didn’t take her long to come to the conclusion that it was everything. He was a man, so he figured why not bone the awkward girl in lieu of accepting gas money. Even though she continued to demonize him, her heart was still broken. Inuyasha had made her feel so beautiful, so desired, and then he’d just left. Was it possible to fall in love after just one look?

The one positive of their encounter was that he’d changed her life and now she knew that she needed to really live it. Kagome had been so buried with guilt from ruining her mother’s life by being born and stress in trying to fulfill her mother’s dreams that it had driven her a little bit crazy. Her throwing herself at that man was just the wake-up call she needed.

After all, what kind of person in their right mind not only accepted a ride from a stranger but brought him into their home and gave them their most cherished possession that once lost could never be regained?

It was her own decision, she told herself vehemently, to join the hiking club. It had nothing to do with what _he_ had said to her.

When she arrived at the meeting place (which took her six buses and three miles of walking to reach), she wasn’t surprised to see that everyone already knew each other. They were all ridiculously fit and tanned and healthy to boot. Like him. Determined not to regret her choice, Kagome smiled brightly at the club president as she handed her a map.

“We have six beautiful trails to choose from,” the president gushed. “There’s Honey Falls Trail, which takes about two and a half hours to complete and ends with a beautiful waterfall. Then there’s Hawk’s View Trail, about four hours, and has the best view of the city below…” She went on and on and more members left, most in pairs, for trails they knew already or wanted to challenge themselves with.

Sighing, Kagome glanced down at the map and tried to pick a trail. The club president was already gabbing away to some friends and she knew she’d feel like a fifth wheel if she tried to go with them, so hiking alone was her only option. The last trail, hidden in writing fainter than the rest on the back page, caught her eye.

_Traitor’s Run. The oldest trees in the entire region are located here, along with animals that defy both logic and science that can be found only in this area. Travel at your own risk._

Before she could change her mind, she started for the path, surprised when it looked no different from the others. Kagome didn’t know what she had expected. Thorn bushes, a sign that said “Turn Back” in dripping red lettering? Sighing, she was at least glad to be alone with her thoughts in a beautiful, different location for once. It was a nice change from home, where her mother had gone into full bitch mode, yelling at her constantly, even accusing her of being on drugs and trashing her room while searching for paraphernalia. Home had become hell, but she was glad she was no longer going to pursue something she obviously wasn’t suited to, killing herself inside to make others happy.

“Kagome! Wait up!”

At first, she thought she imagined someone calling her name. After all, no one she knew would be doing anything like this. They would all be at the library studying or at work. The masculine voice made chills run up and down her spine and she didn’t have to turn around to know who was running up to her.

Inuyasha stood there in the sunshine, glowing like a god, smiling at her without an ounce of sleazy arrogance she would have expected from a one night stand. Kagome was mute. The only thing she could do was stare at him, wondering if this was really real and really happening.

“You picked my favorite trail,” he said, warm eyes holding hers. “I’ve been hiking this one for years.”

She nodded, blushingly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you.” His voice was earnest. “Your family came back right after you fell asleep and I slipped out the window. I don’t have your number and I wanted to drop by and see you, but you were never alone. You don’t even take the bus anymore.”

Kagome nodded again. “I’ve made some changes to my schedule…”

All at once, the sky grew dark and rain began to fall, getting heavier every second.

“Fuck,” he grumbled. Grabbing her wrist, he said, “Follow me!”

Like she had a choice when he was practically dragging her. Her new hiking boots were now covered in mud and they veered off the main path and onto a narrow side one. Branches surrounded her and the only reason why she wasn’t one big open wound of a thousand tiny scratches was because Inuyasha made sure the way was clear for her, getting a few scratches himself. Even so, by the time they finally stopped in what she thought was a blind dash towards nowhere, her hair was a mess, she was thoroughly drenched, and there was something sharp in her shoe.

Flicking a bramble off her tank top, Kagome saw they were at a small wood cabin. Had Inuyasha known it was there?

Taking a key out of his pocket, he opened the door and ushered her inside. It was a one-room place, with only an ancient wood stove and a rickety-looking bed. Still, it was better than being outside in the downpour.

“This is where I come to be alone. No one else knows it’s here.” He busied himself by lighting a lantern, giving them a little light.

“Isn’t this forest government-owned?”

“Only the parts people can see.”

The comment registered as strange, but she was too nervous to do anything but think of something to say to him. For a whole week she had wanted to see him, had prayed that he would show up in her life again as randomly as he had appeared the first time, but now that he had she found she could do nothing but look at him. Kagome tugged absentmindedly on the end of her ponytail and sat down on the edge of his bed.

Inuyasha’s eyes warmed her as he sat next to her. “You cold?”

She nodded.

“Me too. Ever since I had to leave you.”

Again, she was the one to instigate everything, this time by kissing him. It was short and sweet, or at least she hoped it was, and she pulled back after half a second, unsure of where they stood. Inuyasha responded by cupping the back of her neck, the warmth of his hand on her cold skin making her shudder, and slamming his mouth onto hers. His tongue forced her lips open and then he was exploring her, drawing her tongue into his own mouth and sucking on it. Without even realizing he had pushed her, she found herself on her back and panting, swollen lips yearning for his.

“Do you know what you do?” he hissed. He almost looked angry, and with the damp black strands of long hair framing his face, she was reminded of Hades, powerful and terrible. But oh, so beautiful. Quickly, he began to undress. “What were you thinking going hiking in those shorts? They’re like fucking denim panties. I could almost see the outline of your pussy lips.” Quickly unbuttoning said shorts, he tugged them off her and her underwear along with them. “And your knee-highs, like a school girl. And your wet top clinging to you and showing me how hard your nipples got the moment you heard my voice.”

“I touch myself every morning and night thinking about you and it’s still not enough,” Kagome admitted. Grabbing his hand, she brought it to her center. “Touch me again. I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

Rubbing her clit, he covered her body with his own. Rather than kissing her, he kept his face mere inches away from her own, studying her every expression, eyes blazing as she gasped. Evidently, he didn’t like how her eyes avoided his when she threw her head back and to the side in rapture, and he began to keep a firm grip on her ponytail, forcing her to look at him.

“I can always tell when you’re about to come. Your nose wrinkles and I can’t see your little freckles anymore and there’s a twitch in your right eyebrow… Yeah, like that.” His hand stopped working its magic on her. Just as he said, she’d been on the verge of coming.

“Please!” she moaned. “Please, Inuyasha, I can’t take it right now.”

He smirked. “I guess. We have all the time in the world for what I want to do to you.”

Scorching hot lips kissed a trail from her chin down her neck and to her breasts. Nuzzling aside the damp black fabric, Inuyasha attached his mouth to her straining nipple, tonguing it lovingly, happy to be reacquainted. The cold from the storm was long forgotten. Slowly, he licked her, making a show of it, his wicked tongue making her breast bounce with the force of his actions. With a sudden movement, he turned her over. Kagome was on her knees, her face buried in the pillow that smelled of him and would soon smell of the both of them.

“So pretty,” he said softly, trailing his fingers down the curve of her ass. “I think you’re my favorite.”

Inuyasha’s cock was hot and hard and just what she had been craving since she had first experienced it what felt like all too long ago. It seemed like he had missed her just as much. With only a grunt, he pushed inside her, and soon they were one. They rocked together and she gripped his sheets, heart rejoicing at the fact that they were together again and he hadn’t abandoned her. With every slam of his hips on her ass she sang out a moan. One of his big rough hands had a firm grip on her ass while the other drifted down, sliding under the shirt she still wore to fondle her breasts. Soon her top was more like a necklace and her nipples were scraping against the blanket, the friction driving her that much more insane with lust. Gods, but she was certain no other man would ever do this to her. Inuyasha was the only one.

Leaving her breasts for her clit, his fingers rubbed her again, and it was only a second before it was too much for her to handle.

“You can come now, Kagome,” he said generously.

And she did.

Wailing, she pressed herself back against him as her orgasm exploded through her body. Inuyasha wasn’t far behind her, grabbing her by her sensitive breasts as he slammed inside her one last time, filling her with his cum. Soon, they were spooning, and she was trying to catch her breath. Again, they hadn’t used protection. Guiltily, Kagome figured he had probably assumed she was on the pill since she hadn’t objected to barebacking it. It frightened her when she realized it didn’t bother her that they had a complete union. If she wound up pregnant with his child, she would welcome it. She would welcome anything that would tie her to him.

“If I go to sleep, will you be here when I wake up this time?” Kagome had meant to be funny, but when it came out sounding scared, she flinched.

“Go ahead. Nothing will keep us apart now.”

**O\o/O**

Eerily reminiscent to the last time she’d slept with Inuyasha, the room was bright with sunlight when she opened her eyes. Disoriented, Kagome at first thought she had dreamed the entire thing and that she was in her bed at home. But there were no rustic wooden walls in her home, no comforting smell of burning wood… She tried to turn over and see if Inuyasha was still beside her, but quickly discovered she couldn’t. The realization that her limbs were tied to the bed made her scream.

“Quiet down,” Inuyasha grumbled. “I sure hope you don’t make that a habit. For your sake.”

Sitting cross-legged next to her was Inuyasha, still naked, his curtain of black hair providing him some level of modesty.

“W-what are you doing?” She hoped to the gods this was just some kind of bondage thing, but it was still pretty fucked up he had done that without her knowledge or consent. “Untie me!”

“You still don’t remember anything.” He shook his head. “You may never remember. Each time, it gets longer and longer in between appearances and the memories are fuzzier and fuzzier.”

“What are you talking about!?”

He sighed, surprising her by leaning over and kissing her. “I love you, Kagome.” A strange smile made her shiver. “I’ve loved you for five-hundred years.”

Suddenly, everything made sense. Of course someone as attractive and apparently wealthy as him liked her. He was crazy.

“I-I love you too,” she whispered, hoping to calm him. Kagome ignored how it didn’t feel at all like a lie. “But why did you tie me up? It hurts.”

“You don’t remember how Naraku loved you back when you were Kikyo. You don’t remember what he did to us on our wedding day.” The expression on his face was so tragic that she wanted to hold him despite herself. “How he cursed us. He gave me immortality and twisted your love into hate. And then you tried to seal me.” So gentle, so soft, he stroked her hair. “Something happens when you betray me like that, Kagome. I end up killing you.”

“Inuyasha, I swear I would never, ever betray you. I would never hurt you. Please, please untie me. We can talk all you want, just untie me.”

“And you know what? I _like_ killing you. I don’t want to, but I do. I like it almost as much as I like fucking you.”

She began to struggle.

“You’re just making it worse, you know. The rope will cut you.” He spoke like he cared about her. “It’s been driving me crazy, Kagome. Living without you for so long, and then when you show up again, you only betray me and I have to kill you. So I decided that this would be the last time.”

He took out a knife.

“ _Somebody help!”_ she screamed, knowing that no one could hear her this far out. The serrated edges of the weapon glinted in the contrasting cheerily bright sunlight. “ _Help me!”_

“You can’t betray me if you can never leave me,” he explained as though she wasn’t screaming her head off. “You’re a miko, but you’re weak. You can’t try to seal me like Kikyo, try to kill me like Midoriko, try to banish me like Tsukiyomi, and you can’t do all the other things that the rest did. You’re going to stay here with me in the cabin until the world forgets your face.”

Sobbing, Kagome realized she was becoming hysterical. “But I was going to change my life. I was going to go out and do things. I was going to live!”

“After the last time I had to kill you, I decided enough was enough. I came out here to the forest and decided that no matter what, I would succeed in killing myself this time. I cut and cut and cut and took every pill and poison I could find and even blew my fucking brains out.” He chuckled, as though remembering a nostalgic childhood moment. “But it didn’t do a fucking thing. Hurt like hell, but I’m still here. I keep regenerating.” He stroked the knife in a way too similar to how he had stroked her. “But the animals that were lucky enough to stumble upon my blood and sample it showed me something. They can’t be killed and they don’t age. Even when I cut them open, even when they’re cooked, they’re still alive. It doesn’t carry over to their offspring, but that’s easily remedied. Don’t you understand, Kagome?” His eyes were fanatical, frightening. “Even if you do betray me and I have to kill you, you’ll never die. I can kill you all I want, and you’ll still wake up right beside me, just as whole and beautiful as you are now.”

“Oh gods, Inuyasha, what are you—”

He slit his wrist and she screamed. Too late, she realized he had been counting on that, and he covered her lips with his open wound. Blood filled her mouth and the jagged edges of his flesh made her want to retch. But she couldn’t. The blood wouldn’t let her. As she was forced to swallow, a horrible future played in her mind. Every one of her actions perceived as a betrayal, lifetimes spent tied to the bed in the woods, never seeing her mother and brother again, raped and murdered day and night, violated in the most gruesome of ways, alive and conscious through all of it…

When it was over, he kissed her, the blood smearing across his own mouth and chin and cheeks. The smile he gave her was ghoulish.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen how pretty you are inside, Kagome.”


	2. Forget Me Not

**Note: I uploaded this earlier, but it came out all wonky (I had to copy/paste for the first time ever because I was on my chromebook).**

**It's okay to tell me what you think, you know. Even if you're just saying, "I like this. Thanks", I cherish it. Please talk to me :'( Let me know you exist.**

**_As her husband, Inuyasha is obligated to correct his young wife’s mistakes and punish any and all wrongdoing…_ **

**II: Forget Me Not**

It had been a long day at the office.

Ever since he had gotten married, Inuyasha had put the company on the backburner. Those two years had done little to change the profits of the business he’d founded decades ago, but he still felt like he was playing catch-up. The person he had been before marriage would have never taken a day or even an hour off for something like date night or picnics in the park or taking her shopping. Hell, the person he had been before would have never even considered marriage. But sometimes there was just no other way to get the girl you wanted.

Summoned by the sound of jingling keys as he opened the door, his pets came to greet him on hands and knees, eager faces alight with primitive joy at his return.

“Hey there, pretty girl,” he purred when his wife stopped at his feet, looking up at him with simple adoration. “And of course the bitch isn’t too far behind.” Kōga’s tail was wagging so fast he almost couldn’t see it, perpetually caged erection bobbing.

Now in her third month of pregnancy, Kagome was glowing. Before her, pregnant women had always unsettled and mildly disgusted him, but his wife was made just that much more gorgeous. Maybe it was the fact that it was his child she was carrying (he’d had to do a DNA test to be sure, however), or maybe he was just getting old and sentimental. Seven hundred and twelve years of life did seem like a lot when he thought about it from his little wife’s perspective.

Beginning the ritual of his return from work, he unzipped his pants, freeing his cock. Kōga leapt for it, easily overtaking Kagome, demon that he was, but that was just fine. In his many years of experience, few women could suck a dick with the expertise and enthusiasm another man possessed. It just made sense. They had the same parts, after all. And his smooth, tanned, muscular ass wasn’t bad, either. Content with whatever she could get, his Kagome went for his sack, gently kissing and licking all over with her sweet little mouth. He sighed and smoothed her long hair. No complaints he was home late or that he hadn’t showered or that her mother needed money. Just blissful silence.

His tired and overworked mind drifted to the time he and Kagome had first met.

**O\o/O**

To be fair, he had always known her, even before she was born. Her mother was his housekeeper. Originally, she'd been just another one night stand, but instead of leaving in the morning like a normal person, she'd stayed and cleaned and made breakfast. She probably thought that would get him thinking about a relationship, but all he'd done was offer her a job. They'd fooled around a few times before she'd gotten married and remained pretty close. Kun-loon had even wanted him to be her child’s godfather, but her husband had objected, jealous and suspicious of their relationship. He shouldn’t have been, though. He’d wasted his short life being bitter about it. After she met him, she never once looked at Inuyasha in that way again. A faithful woman. A rarity. How he wished it ran in the family.

When his wife had been just a small child, she’d stay in his living room and color while Kun-loon did her work. Inuyasha was rarely around during those times since there was no longer any sex to be had, but when he was, he avoided them, the happy nonsense constantly spilling from the kid’s mouth annoying the hell out of him. Kun-loon would laugh and proudly show him the drawings, which for some reason the kid kept giving to him even though they’d barely had glimpses of each other. And for some reason he kept them, even though her portraits of him were unflattering at best. She’d draw them coloring together, having tea parties together, holding hands. It was like she thought he was a teddy bear or something.

When Kun-loon’s husband had died, taking the majority of their income with him, Inuyasha had stepped in. For once feeling sorry for someone other than himself, he paid for the kid’s education. After all, he knew how hard life was without a father. So he sent her to the best school he could find, which just so happened to be some ritzy thing on another continent. As grateful as Kun-loon was, she was also resentful, feeling like he had robbed her of the one thing she had left of her husband. And maybe he had. Their relationship was strained after that, and that was putting it mildly.

Everything came to a head when he got the invitation for Kagome’s graduation.

Barely even glancing at the thing, he tossed it in the trash. Fuck, he’d paid for everything, wasn’t that enough? Forgetting about it immediately, he went through his weekend routine and picked up some bitch at a club, some child actress turned adult with fake tits trying to prove she wasn’t all goody-goody, and took her home. The night was a blur of good sex and better drugs, absolutely perfect, as far as he was concerned.

And then he woke up to the harpy screaming at him.

Kun-loon was holding the forgotten invitation, looking madder than he’d ever seen her. “How do you do it, Inuyasha!? How do you just go through life without even the slightest bit of conscience? It’s kind of amazing. The government should study you.”

“Whuh?” he mumbled into his pillow, blinking in the afternoon light.

His date of last night was getting dressed. “You didn’t tell me you were married, asshole!”

He ignored her. “The fuck, Kun-loon?”

His housekeeper threw the torn invitation in his face. “Kagome’s graduation. You were the only one outside of family she invited, you know? And you’re the only one who can afford to go without taking out a loan.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he groaned. “If you want me to buy you a ticket and hotel room, just fucking ask.”

“That’s not it!” she screeched. The front door slammed. There would be no repeat of last night. “Gods, Inuyasha, Kagome worships you. She can’t remember her father much and to have you step in like some kind of hero and give her a life most girls only dream of was just… Can you please just go?”

“Fine. But you’re fucking fired.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Fine. I’ll just go to the gossip rags and consider that my severance pay.”

The front door slammed again. He was alone.

Sighing, he looked at the little invitation with new eyes. He was the girl’s patron, after all. He should probably go and make an appearance at the very least. Just to see how his investment had turned out. He’d probably have to miss a day of work, but he was just going to bite the bullet and go for it. If someone had taken an interest in him as a kid instead of leaving him on his own, how much easier would his life had been? How much sooner would he have achieved his goals? They were things he tried not to think about.

He booked the flight.

Her school looked like a fairytale castle placed right on the set of The Sound of Music. Inuyasha began to feel foolish. He hadn’t RSVPed, and he was fairly sure Kun-loon hadn’t actually believed he’d be attending the graduation so she hadn’t told her daughter. And would Kun-loon herself actually even show up? True to her word, she had been spreading shit about him everywhere that would pay for it, most of it true, so she probably had a decent amount of money saved up. It was a once in a lifetime occasion, after all. There was no way she would miss it.

And he didn’t even know where on the campus graduation was being held. Pissed off with himself and still a little tipsy from the copious amount of alcohol he’d consumed on the flight, he wandered the grounds, priding himself on the good taste he’d had in sending the girl there. It was a very nice campus, nicer than any of the schools he’d seen back home, and certainly nicer than any public school she normally would have gone to. Sure enough, he was lost now. He fucking hated being lost.

“What are you doing out here with us? Shouldn’t you be with the rest of the staff and setting up for the banquet?”

Cruel laughter followed the verbal attack and Inuyasha glared at the source of his new headache. A few girls were ganging up on another. Before he could see the victim’s face, one of the girls turned her around and pressed her into the wall of the building.

“Your mother sewed that dress, didn’t she?” Her hand fished down the back of the lilac summer dress. “Oh my gawd, there’s no tag! She actually did!”

More laughter.

Fuck, they were so loud. “Do you bitches seriously have nothing better to do?” he growled.                                                                                                 

“Who’re you?” the dyke who’d had her hand down the girl’s dress asked. “You’re not a teacher. You can’t tell me what to do.”

The girl they were holding down broke free and to his never-ending surprise launched herself at him, hugging him around the middle. He was about to shove her off of him when he heard her whisper his name.

“Mr. Taisho!”

She sounded so relieved and grateful and everything that he couldn’t think of anything to do but awkwardly pat her head.

“Fuck, Inuyasha Taisho?”

“She wasn’t lying!”

The cowards ran off, leaving him confused and a little soberer.

But then she looked up at him and he forgot everything but her face.

Inuyasha had heard about love at first sight before, but that didn’t make sense. He’d seen her already and what he was feeling wasn’t love. It was like a punch to the gut to be sure, but it wasn’t love. He was just very taken with her. To put it simply, he wanted her, and he knew he was going to have her, no matter what he had to do.

“Mama didn’t tell me you were coming!” she said, smiling up at him like she hadn’t almost gotten her ass kicked. Her eyelashes fluttered down demurely, a contrast to her suddenly rosy cheeks. “I didn’t think you’d have time to attend. You’re so busy, I know. I almost didn’t send you the invitation even though I really wanted you here.”

“Nonsense,” he grinned. “I’m happy to see you’ve done well.”

Her blush went a shade deeper and he wanted to kiss her cheeks to see how warm it made her.

“W-well, I’m not the best student. I get straight C’s in math no matter how much I try and I’m not very good at other languages…” she blabbed.

“Could be worse,” he said, amusement coloring his tone. “You could be a nerd.”

She laughed and he put an arm around her, letting her lead him to the graduation site. It was very nice, with a gauzy tent set up for the guests to sit under and still be sheltered from the bright spring sun. She scurried away to get dressed and he sat in the area for parents and other attendees. Becoming completely bored once she was out of sight, he texted through the entire thing until he heard her musical name, Kagome Higurashi, called. The amount of people who cheered far exceeded the rest of her peers so he guessed she was pretty popular despite what he had seen earlier. Kun-loon was nowhere in sight, which he was grateful for. Finally, it was over.

Kagome scurried over to him, face bright and shining with happiness. She was brighter than anything he’d ever seen.

“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Taisho! It means so much to me, more than anything, especially since Mama can’t be here.”

He frowned, faking concern when he was merely mildly curious. “What’s up with Kun-loon?”

Emotions immediately visible on her face, she looked a little sad. “Jii-chan is suddenly really sick so they had to stay behind. She probably won’t be able to come in to work for a little while, but I know you’ll understand.”

So she hadn’t told her daughter she’d been fired. Inuyasha almost laughed. That was good.

“How about a celebratory dinner? We can get to know each other and you can have your first glass of champagne as a high school graduate.”

Kagome giggled. “I’m only eighteen, Mr. Taisho.”

“I won’t tell.”

“I’d love to! If it’s not too much trouble.”

Inuyasha quickly found the most expensive restaurant in the area and took her there. The entire drive in his rented car was spent admiring her from the corner of his eye. If Kun-loon really had sewn that dress for her, she was a master seamstress and should probably go into that line of work. Kagome’s delicate beauty was enhanced by the cut, her breasts made noticeable but not in a vulgar fashion. The silvery lilac of the material combined with her golden-white skin and midnight hair made her look ethereal. She wasn’t wearing too much make-up, just a smidge of lipstick and some mascara and he wasn’t entirely sure if the shimmeriness of her face was cosmetic or just how she looked. Had he been a less experienced driver, they would have gotten into an accident that night.

The valets fought over who got to park the car and they were seated immediately even without a reservation. Those who served made it their business to know faces like his and ensured he never ran into embarrassment like being told to wait. Whether it impressed Kagome or not, he didn’t know. Her eyes were always on him. Inuyasha flattered himself by thinking she was as taken with him as he was with her, but he knew it was probably absurd. Girls like her didn’t want things the way people like him did. She was innocent and grateful, just enjoying the night. In a way, that would make things easier for him.

The champagne arrived at the table before they even sat down. Inuyasha did things he hadn’t done in ages, like pull out her chair for her and serve her glass. When was the last time he had been on an actual date? Certainly not in this century or even the latter half of the last one.

“Everything sounds so good but there are no prices.”

“Get whatever you want. It’s your celebration.”

He kept his menu closed and just looked at her, at how she concentrated, sounding out the words in the foreign language she probably wasn’t very proficient in, like she’d told him earlier. Sure, he could have helped her out and translated it all, but he didn’t even think to do so, caught up as he was in memorizing her. Even the champagne didn’t tempt him. Nothing tempted Inuyasha as much as Kagome did.

He almost hated the waiter for showing up and interrupting the peaceful moment.

“Ummm, I’ll have the, ummm, this?” She pointed to what she wanted on the menu, obviously unable to pronounce it. She’d probably just picked something at random.

Inuyasha just smiled and handed his menu to the waiter. “I’ll have what you’re getting. I want to taste what you taste.”

With any other woman, that would have earned him a flirty smile and maybe some under the table action. But Kagome’s face just turned beet red and she started sipping her champagne, looking anywhere but at him.

“So, what are your plans going forward?”

Her gaze remained on her lap. “I’m not exactly sure. Mama really wants me to go to university and all that, and I thought I did, too, but I’m…not sure.”

“You must have something you want to accomplish, though.”

She squirmed like a child in a pew. “This is stupid, but I used to want to be a singer. Except I found out performing is too scary for me.”

Shit, this was like pulling teeth. “You don’t want to be a maid like your mom, do you?”

“No!” she burst out. “Please don’t think all this was a waste, but I’m just not really good at too much, Mr. Taisho. And college costs a whole lot and I don’t want to ask you for more. I’m just trying to be practical. My boyfriend and I were talking and he says we’ll get married as soon as he’s done with school.”

“Boyfriend?” It was a struggle to keep his voice light. “Where’d you find a boyfriend at an all-girls school?”

She began twisting the cloth napkin in her lap. “He’s my friend’s brother. Kōga. He’s two years older.”

“Kōga? As in the Ookami kid?”

She nodded.

Well, Kagome had certainly done well for herself. In the demon world, her boyfriend was a prince, set to inherit his tribe and their vast lands once he came of age. But all that was contingent upon his marriage to his cousin, Ayame. He’d bet anything Kōga hadn’t told Kagome about that little detail.

“Kōga’s so sweet. He has finals right now so he couldn’t come, but he sent me lots of flowers.”

Their food arrived and saved him from a speech about how great her stupid boyfriend was. Inuyasha didn’t even taste the food, mind working to figure out just how to work around the problem of her being attached to someone. She continued to make conversation and he participated, on complete autopilot. Soon enough, they were back in the car and she was thanking him.

“Do you mind if we stop off at my hotel before I drop you off? I left my phone there and I need to check something really quick.” He wondered if she had seen him texting earlier, or noticed the outline in his pocket.

Kagome nodded, completely oblivious. He sped and they were there in a few minutes.

“You can come on up, if you want. I’ll make you some hot chocolate.”

Her face lit up and she followed him into the elevator. He felt like a spider that caught a butterfly. Beautiful and delicate, he didn’t know how he wanted to do it, but he knew he wanted to consume her, no matter how clumsy and blunt his attempts were. Anyone else surely would have noticed what he had planned, smelled it from a mile away, but not Kagome.

“Wow, this is like a whole house!” she chirped, spinning around and staring at the murals on the domed ceiling. One of the straps on her dress had slid down, revealing a tad more of her breast than before. It wasn’t enough to be deemed evenly remotely erotic, but it had his cock twitching.

“Yeah. Bed’s a little too big.”

“Your bed at home is bigger, though.”

“True. But it’s usually not just me in it.”

Figuring it was about time he made his intentions clear, he approached her. Like a fawn before a lion, she trembled, caught in his stare. It seemed she finally understood what this night was all about. Kagome didn’t protest nor did she struggle as he kissed her the first time. It was like a craving he’d always had but never paid attention to being satisfied and that was when he knew he’d made the best mistake of his life.

She was crying.

“Mr. Taisho, I can’t—”

“Call me Inuyasha.” He kissed her again and she squeaked in surprise when his tongue licked at her bottom lip.

“Kōga will—”

“You’re not with him anymore. You’re mine now.”

Kagome moaned in weak protest and pleasure as he laid her down on the big bed, unzipping her dress as he did so. Cradling her to him, he kissed her shoulders and her neck, his hands caressing the smooth skin of her back. She wasn’t wearing a bra. It was his turn to tremble. His ravenous mouth sucked on her soft throat and then he went back to her lips, swallowing the cries she made. Gently turning her over, he kissed down her spine, sliding her dress down and off of her. Her panties would have been considered acceptable for her uniform. They were cotton, white, and a little high cut. He’d never fetishized undergarments before, but now he was pretty sure he had a thing for them.

Grabbing a handful of her ass, he bit into it, wanting to feel her bouncy flesh in his mouth. His fangs just barely pierced the skin, branding her. Goosebumps rose on her skin and he tugged her panties away, revealing her sopping wet treasure.

Kagome chose that moment to ruin everything. “I can’t!” she gasped, turning over. “I’m sorry Mr. Taisho, but I… I never… And Kōga…”

Inuyasha chose to ignore her. Kissing her until she was breathing heavily once more, he finally got a good look at her breasts. Upturned and small, they were dainty little things, bouncing at the slightest movement. Unable to think of anything else but how wildly they’d move when he was fucking her, he took one of her pink nipples into his mouth, sucking it, circling it with his tongue. She cried out at the pressure of his fangs and he switched to her other breast, molesting it as thoroughly as he had its twin. Groaning at the taste of her skin, he sucked hard, loving the stiff little peaks, switching between them until they were dripping with his saliva, shining in the dim light.

Clawed fingers found a home dipping inside her startlingly wet pussy. Delving deeper inside, his fingers came to a stop, and he realized what she had been trying to tell him.

Kagome was a virgin.

The knowledge of that had his cock fully hard, straining in his pants. When was the last time he was completely ready for a bitch with just the tiniest bit of foreplay, and none of that foreplay for him?

“I’m sorry, Mr. Taisho,” she sobbed. “I can’t! I can’t, I can’t! I promised to save myself.”

He growled and the sound was enough to make her stop crying, shocked that such a dark and frightening sound had come from him.

“You’re wet,” he said hoarsely. “You’re so fucking wet for me, Kagome.”

“I promised!” she protested.

Inuyasha could tell the tears were starting up again. Fuck it all, he had never wanted anything more than he wanted to shove his cock up that tight, hot little pussy of hers. It would be a struggle to fit inside her, his fingers had told him. Inch by inch, he knew it would be worth it for the both of them. He could do it, right now, he could do it and just take the choice away from her. Rape her. The idea appealed to him the longer it lingered in his brain. Yes, she’d claw and scream and struggle but that would be exciting. But she would hate him after he was done.

He got up and punched a hole in the wall.

The mere thought that there was a beautiful woman, untouched and wetter than a river, spread out on his bed yet he could not have her made him furious.

He rounded on a cowering Kagome.

“Saving yourself for your boyfriend or marriage?”

Wide, frightened brown eyes stared back at him. “M-marriage.”

Grabbing the phone, he dialed the front desk. “Get me a fucking priest!”

“Excuse me, Mr. Taisho?” No doubt the clerk thought he had misheard.

“A priest, you idiot! Or anyone that can marry people.” He slammed the phone down hard enough to break it.

“Mr. Taisho, what are you—”

He pounced on Kagome, smothering her mouth with his own. It felt so good to be pressed against her, to imprison her on the bed with his weight. The girl whimpered, allowing him to do what he wanted but not participating. Inuyasha intentionally overwhelmed her with his kisses and practiced touch. Soon she was moaning aloud, eyes glassed over, cheeks permanently flushed.

When he heard the footsteps approaching his door, he leaned down and spread her legs, licking her from bottom to top, salivating further when her hips jumped and sought him out. Giving her clit a wet kiss, he tossed her dress at her and went to answer the door, uncaring of these new witnesses to his rather disheveled state. Cock noticeably hard and erect, barely restrained by his pants, several buttons on his shirt undone, he met his visitors.

A bespectacled old man holding a stack of papers looked at him apprehensively. The bellboy who brought him up turned to leave, but Inuyasha slipped him a bill. “Come back and bring another person with you.” Ushering the government worker inside, he continued, “Let’s make this quick, shall we?”

Kagome was seated on the edge of the bed, eyes dazed and hair mussed. Her dress was unzipped in the back and she held it to herself, barely escaping being indecent. Handed a pen and the stack of papers, she silently and robotically filled them out. The bellboy came back with a coworker and Inuyasha was done before her and waited impatiently for her to finish. Rifling through her purse, he found her wallet and pulled out her ID, setting it down with his own. When she finally finished, he snatched the pen away from her and handed it to the bellhops along with the papers. Confused, they signed their names as witnesses.

“Is that it? Are we done?”

The man cleared his throat as he shuffled the papers. “Yes. Well. Miss, er, Higurashi, do you truly consent to this?”

Kagome glanced at him before nodding.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“My apologies, sir, but these circumstances are quite unusual, you must understand.”

“Whatever,” he sneered. He ached for her. “This is all legal and over and done with and everything, right?”

“Yes, well, as soon as I process the paperwork—”

He handed him a few bills from his back pocket. “It’s processed.”

“F-fine, sir. Yes. Congratulations on your nuptials.”

“Now get out. I want to enjoy my honeymoon.”

All three shuffled out and they were finally back where they were supposed to be. Kagome’s expression remained vaguely confused to the point that she looked concussed, and he figured she was in shock. Going over to her, intentionally intimidating her by standing when she was sitting, he put his hands on her shoulders. Her deep brown eyes met his and he couldn’t see anything but how perfectly they reflected him, enhanced him. He wanted to be what she saw. As slowly as he could bear, he slid his hands down her arms, bringing the straps of her dress with them. When her breasts were revealed, the unzipped bodice sagging around her ribs, he touched the back of a knuckle to her kiss-swollen lips. Like rose petals, he thought. Soft and pure and pinker than anything.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers. “So much.”

A strangled cry escaped Kagome’s lips as he surprised her by pushing her down, covering her frame with his own much heavier one. Her hands were gripping his muscled upper arms and her face looked like she was anticipating being hit by a car. Inuyasha laughed softly and knelt over her, straddling her hips, undressing himself with a few quick motions.

“You never went this far with anyone else, huh?”

Eyes shut tight, she shook her head.

“Look at me, Kagome. I want you to watch me while I fuck you.”

Obedient, she peeked at him, and soon her gaze was traveling over every revealed inch of him, drinking him in with a mixture of what appeared to be awe and terror. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a virgin, and he'd always preferred a good roll in the hay with an experienced woman, but something about her was driving him crazy, making him into a beast.

"You're staring at me," she complained softly. "You've been doing that all day."

"You're fun to look at."

Running his hands over her body, he acquainted himself with the heavenly feel of her pale skin. No blemishes, no imperfections. If there was a slight lack of symmetry in certain areas, it only made her that much more appealing. When his hands and eyes were satisfied, he kissed her again. So warm. Was anyone else as warm as Kagome? He didn't care, he had her. Luring her tongue into his mouth, he sucked on it before switching to her lower lip. It seemed like she had next to no experience even with kissing, and his heart delighted in the knowledge.

Soon, his actions changed from passionate to animalistic. Inuyasha forgot to be gentle with his claws, and the little squeaks of discomfort his new wife made weren't enough to bring him back to earth, and the smell of tiny droplets of her blood only served to spur him on. His lips sought the perfect peaks he hadn't had a chance to thoroughly explore earlier. Circling her small pink areola with just the tip of his tongue, he drew back when she arched her back, trying to force more of herself in his mouth. Pushing her down again, he went back to treat himself, her moans of complaint and yearning making his cock weep to be inside her. Flicking his tongue against her nipple, his ears twitched as she cried out. Repeating the action, his lust swelled when his shy little bride grabbed his hair with both hands, moaning for more. Fucking hell, her nipples were diamond hard little points he couldn't help but to suck. Too tempted, he bit them, grinding his cock into her leg when she gave a sexy little shudder in response.

Kissing and licking his way down her stomach, loving the quivers he felt beneath her smooth skin, he asked, "How often do you play with yourself?"

"W-what?" So breathless, so sexy.

"Do you use a vibrator?" He stared at her perfect little tight pussy. Incomparable. That's what she was. His wife was in a league of her own. A moan almost escaped him at the sight of her pussy dripping her fragrant juice onto the sheets, which already sported a wet spot. "Or maybe just your fingers?"

"I don't do anything like that," she said in a rush. "Please don't stop!"

Unable to help himself now that she'd asked, he drew a claw up and down the insides of her thighs ever so slowly. "You seriously expect me to believe that you never touched yourself? Don't lie to your husband, Kagome."

"I tried a few times, but I—I—"

He teased the tender place where her leg connected to her sex. "But you what?"

"I couldn't... I wasn't able to..."

"You couldn't come?"

She shook her head, black waves tossing on the pillows.

"Well, that's my job now, and I happen to take orgasms very seriously."

The glee that filled him at the idea that he was to be her first in even that was almost overwhelming. Not possessing any more control, he buried his face in her pussy, stabbing his tongue in her cunt, elongating it and massaging her inner walls. With the slightest brush of his tongue to her swollen clit, she came, exploding in a rush of juices that he lapped right up. Even the thighs now clenched on either side of his head weren't enough to muffle her screams of pleasure. Inuyasha's scalp stung with how hard she tugged on his hair, but he didn't say anything, too satisfied by her satisfaction. Continuing to lick her, he sucked and nibbled on her lips, running his tongue up and down them and everywhere it could reach. Nudging the muscle against her clit a few times, she tightened up and he could tell she was about to release again.

He pulled away and looked at her.

Kagome was flushed almost down to her nipples, her skin the loveliest shade of rose he'd ever seen. Her black hair waved all over the head of the bed, tendrils sticking to her sweaty face and neck and chest. Breasts heaving with each gasping breath, she practically glowed in the dim light. And her eyes. The pure sexuality radiating from her still innocent eyes pierced him to the core and almost had him wanting to just look at her and jerk himself off. She was a fantasy brought to life and he knew it was time.

Her waiting legs were still spread and he maneuvered between them. Seeming to recover her earlier fright, Kagome didn't wrap her legs around him the way he wanted her to and even looked away, face turned to the side and eyes closed as she tensed up. But Inuyasha would have none of that. He had always been a man of little patience, and it turned out that trait was exaggerated when it came to her. A growl vibrated from his chest, commanding her attention, and she immediately turned her head, staring at him with wide, scared eyes.

Grabbing her behind the knees, he pushed her legs until they were folded against her chest. She gave him no resistance. Licking his lips as he stared at her wide-open pussy, he tasted her flavor again. Kagome's eyes were on his cock, more curious than fearful now. Looking her in the eye, he held her gaze with his own. Taking his cock in one hand, he rubbed it up and down her slippery slit, teasing her and himself.

"I told you to watch," he said in a low voice that rang with need for her. "I want you to watch me while I fuck you. Don't take your eyes off us."

Following his own commands, he looked down at where he was straining to get inside her. He didn't need to glance at his wife to see she was doing the same. He could feel it. Taking a mental snapshot, he eased his way inside her dripping hot sheath. Fuck. Fuckfuck _fuck_. Only the tip was in and she was already the sweetest pussy he'd ever had. With tiny thrusts, he completed his journey inside her tight cunt. Unable to stop the groan that left his mouth, he had to stop. Kagome was gripping him like a fist, a stranglehold on his organ. Little flutters massaged him and he grit his teeth to keep from spilling himself like a schoolboy.

"Does it hurt?" he whispered.

Kagome's eyes were so dark they looked almost black. "Gods, no. It's so good."

Inuyasha couldn't help it anymore. Putting her legs over his shoulders, he grabbed her elevated hips and began to slam in and out of her. A grunt left him with each thrust and he bit his lip until he tasted blood. Kagome was clawing at the sheets, desperately trying to look at where they were joined even as her head was involuntarily thrown back each time he hit her sweet spot. True to his earlier daydream, her little tits were bouncing along, drawing his eyes to their performance. Reaching down, he pinched her left nipple between his knuckles. That was all it took for her to come again, wailing as she lost herself.

While he still possessed the will, he withdrew from her. Kagome reached for him, her pussy still clenching madly. As quickly as he could, he flipped her over, arranging them horizontally on the bed so they faced the mirrored closet. Before she could even process the change in position, Inuyasha was inside her again, pumping away, wondering how he had survived those few seconds without her heat. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he roughly tugged her up, kissing her hard on the mouth to cover up her protesting cry.

"Third time's the charm, Kagome," he said, voice coarse and husky. "Go on and come again, this time all over your husband's cock."

His lips were all over her skin, kissing and sucking and licking and biting her shoulders and neck and jaw and ears. Every part of her. He was enthralled with every single part of her. His hands came around to her breasts and he squeezed, rough palms teasing her delicate nipples. To see them in the mirror was quite a sight indeed. Kagome's face torn between rapture and strain, hair damp and matted, skin flushed and covered in claw marks. And him behind her, all brutal muscle to her angelic softness. His cock savagely sawing between her thighs, covered in her virgin blood and shining cum. That was it. That image was it. Inuyasha couldn't hold back anymore. Just as his seed came spurting out, Kagome came again, screaming like a banshee as she thrust back against him, taking his hand from her breast and using it to rub at her clit.

Falling back against the now filthy sheets, Inuyasha pulsed inside Kagome, filling her with an unbelievable load. She shivered atop him, twitching inside what seemed like a hundred times a second, so sensitive that even the slightest movement caused her to clamp back down on him, not wanting to let him go. Until they calmed, he kissed the side of her face and along her hairline, tasting the salty sweat their sex had caused.

Finally, they were able to separate, and Inuyasha drew the cover up over them. He was fucking exhausted. He didn't think there had ever been a time in his life when he'd been this relaxed.

"I'm so in love with you, Mr. Taisho," Kagome whispered. Her eyes glowed with happiness and adoration and she put her arms around him, kissing him softer than anyone else ever had. "You were always the one."

Inuyasha's state of complete relaxation was probably the only reason he didn't freak out at what the fuck had just happened. Instead of calling security to remove her from his room, he sighed and arranged them in a spooning position.

"I prefer to be called Inuyasha, Mrs. Taisho."

And that was the first night of their marriage.

They stayed away on their honeymoon for three months. When the crazy idea to marry Kagome in order to fuck her had first entered his mind, Inuyasha had figured he could just get the marriage annulled as soon as he got tired of her, which he suspected would be within a week. Instead, he found himself taking her shopping (after buying her the morning after pill and getting her put on the shot, of course). And he wasn't just waiting in the car and giving her his credit cards, no, he was actually there with her, actually shopping and going into stores and holding her purse and her bags upon bags of purchases. To make it all worse, it was his idea, and he was enjoying himself.

It didn't hurt that many of the things they bought were lingerie and as soon as they got back to the hotel she indulged every single one of his desires. Sometimes they didn't even wait until the hotel. In the dressing rooms, in the car, in public restrooms, and a few times in a park in broad daylight where they had been in the middle of a picnic. A cop had caught them once and it had taken more money than he'd expected to pay the bastard off, but it had still been worth it.

When they returned home was when things began to fall apart.

It seemed like ever since their marriage had become public, they were on the front of every single tabloid. He had managed to avoid any altercations with the paparazzi thanks to bodyguards and the hotel respecting his privacy (for an enormous fee). But the moment they left the plane, Kagome sleepy and wrapped in a blanket wrapped in his arms as she slowly walked in front of him, they were surrounded by flashing cameras and screamed questions and accusations. It scared Kagome so badly that she had her first panic attack, right there in the airport. Tossing the blanket over her so there wouldn't be photographs, he broke one fucker's nose before the security guards and body guards and police could get the situation under control. Taking his bride in his arms, he ran for his car, glad that for once he hadn't taken an Uber since he'd thought his trip would just be a day or two. He'd text his guards about their baggage.

Buckling her in the passenger seat, Inuyasha kissed Kagome's nose, not caring that it was dripping. She was calming down and her breathing was almost back to normal.

"I'm so sorry about that, Kagome," he murmured, arranging the blanket around her in an almost maternal fashion. "Our honeymoon made me forget what it was like to live my life. I should have warned you."

She grabbed his hand, holding it to her cheek still wet with tears. "It's not your fault, Inuyasha. I should have expected this. I did grow up around you, after all."

Inuyasha regretted every model and actress and singer and socialite he had ever been with, every famous person he'd rubbed elbows with, every photoshoot, every interview he'd ever done, every talk show he'd ever gone on. If only he hadn't made himself someone known to the media, Kagome wouldn't have to suffer.

"Let's go home. You can look around and redecorate. Even find a new place. Anything you want."

Kagome smiled and he couldn't help but to kiss her dimpled cheeks, making her giggle. "You know you're all I want. We could be living in a hut without running water or electricity and I'd be just as happy."

Later on, Inuyasha would regret believing her.

Expecting peace when he unlocked the door to his penthouse, he was instead met by a fuming Kun-loon.

Opening his mouth to ask what the fuck she was doing inside his home, prepared to curse her out and then sue her before changing the locks like he should have done when he fired her, he was surprised when she didn't gear up to fight with him and instead went straight for her daughter. Before he realized what was happening, she slapped her, and the sound rang in the foyer.

Kagome held a hand to her cheek, eyes watering anew in hurt. "Mama—"

"You shut your mouth!" she hissed. "You're going to listen to me for the first time in your life. What you did was so stupid. So incredibly _stupid_. One day, Kagome! You married that asshole after only a few hours of knowing him. And you're only eighteen!"

"It wasn't a few hours! I've known Inuyasha my whole entire life!"

She snorted. "You barely said two words to each other before today and that was when you were a child. You haven't even seen each other since you were still in elementary school! Do you know how much more disgusting that makes all this?"

Inuyasha broke in, or tried to. "The fuck is that supposed to—"

"And what about Kōga? That boy worships you! He must have called me a hundred times, frantically trying to find you. That was before the two of you were on the cover of every magazine in the world." Her eyes narrowed. "Why are you doing this? What about college? Do you think this idiot is going to keep you around forever and you'll never have to work? Believe me, Kagome, he'll be done with you before the year is out, and his lawyers will make sure you never see a cent of his money."

"I don't care!" Kagome screamed. "I don't care about any of that. I don't care about college, I don't care about Kōga, and I don't care about what you think." Taking a deep breath, she glanced at him before squaring her shoulders and addressing her mother again. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I know he doesn't love me. But I love him and I want to stay with him and so I will. For as long as he lets me."

Silence filled the room again. Inuyasha felt uncomfortable. Every single day, Kagome told him she loved him. For every little thing, too. When he bought her ice cream, she told him. When he picked a flower for her, she told him. When he snorted when he laughed, she told him. When he held her hand, she told him. When she picked his dirty clothes up off the floor, she told him. When he sneezed, she told him. When they fucked, she told him. When they went to sleep, it was the last thing she said.

He had no intention of ever saying it back. It just wasn't true. But he liked how it made him feel when she said the words, and since it didn't annoy him, he didn't complain.

Kun-loon shook her head. She hadn't looked so drained since her husband had died. "I was like you once. I thought nothing mattered as long as I could be with him. Even if I had to leave school and clean up after his drunken nights with other women, I wanted to be close to him. It was your father who showed me I was worth more." Going to the door, she was half gone before she turned back around. "Your grandfather doesn't approve, either. The shrine is off-limits to the both of you."

The door closed gently, but it felt like a slam.

"I never knew," Kagome said. She was looking at him like he was a stranger. It made his heart feel cold.

"What?"

"You and Mama. You never told me."

"I don't have to tell you everything." The flight and the paparazzi and the confrontation had gotten to him and he was feeling grumpy and defensive.

Kagome looked at the ground. "I see."

The way she said that made the feeling so much worse. He noticed the mark on her cheek from where her mother had struck her, the pink not lightening. It might even bruise. He wanted to give her an ice pack, wanted to kiss her, but she walked away.

Frequently now, he found himself wondering if things would be different had he gone after her and not gone about drinking a beer while pretending he couldn't hear her crying in the bathroom. Not even turning the volume on the television up had muted the sobs she tried to keep muffled. He could feel them. Their accusing echoes bounced off his heart and the walls of his ribcage.

She still loved him after that. At least she told him so, though nowhere near as often as she had on their honeymoon. Things went on fairly normally. It seemed like they were on every cover of every gossip magazine for those two years, and that probably wasn't a stretch. It kept Kagome somewhat confined at home, which she hated and never ceased telling him. To make her (and himself) feel better, he worked from home most days, going in maybe twice a week on average, sometimes less, sometimes more.

It was on one of those visits that he discovered his wife was not just sitting around and eating bonbons all day.

When he had hired a new maid after Kun-loon's sudden unemployment, he's set up a few cameras in the house, just in case his new employee liked to look with her hands and end up taking shit. So far, he'd caught nothing except for the maid sometimes slacking off and watching TV when he wasn't there. Since Kagome had decided that she wanted to do all the cleaning herself and be a "real wife", he hadn't checked the feeds. Nor had he removed them.

Bored in a meeting, he was on his iPad pretending to be taking notes when he remembered the app that fed live footage directly to him. Figuring he might as well lighten up the meeting that seemed like it was never going to end by peeping in on his wife doing naked housework or whatever, he turned it on.

There was a man in his home.

He didn't wear a uniform, so there was no chance he was a plumber or something. It took him a moment or two, but he eventually recognized the fucker. That tail, the pointed ears, the long ponytail. It was the Ookami prince. Kagome's ex. In his home without his knowledge, sitting on his loveseat with dirty feet up on his coffee table and an arm around his wife.

His wife's face was flushed and he noticed the nearly empty glass of wine in her hand. When she laughed at something the bastard said, it almost went falling out of her relaxed grasp. Kōga laughed along with her and took the glass, getting up and going over to the kitchen, which he seemed disturbingly familiar with, rinsing the glass and setting it on the counter. Kagome looked at her watch and gasped and he swore her lips mouthed his name. The wolf scowled, previous good mood nowhere to be found, and said something that made Kagome cross her arms and look away from him. In a flash, he was kneeling in front of her, holding her hands, clawed thumbs caressing her skin like he had done it a thousand times before and still hadn't gotten anywhere near enough.

After a few seconds of cajoling, Kagome sighed and looked at him again. Small half-smile on her face, she patted him on the head like a dog. Perhaps that was when the seed of his plan had taken root.

And then he kissed her.

It was brief, their lips making contact for no more than a second before Kōga pulled back to look at her. The way she looked at her former flame was what pushed Inuyasha over the edge. While it was good that the kiss had surprised her, that look of astonishment quickly changed into one of consideration. Like Kōga was an option she had overlooked. A possibility. A future. A life that did not include Inuyasha.

He couldn't see anything after that because suddenly he was holding a broken tablet. His palms were cut with shards of glass, bleeding. Everyone in the meeting stared at him but he didn't notice, didn't even see them. His eyes were still on his wife and her budding affair, because it was an affair if she hadn't even bothered to mention she was having wine with her ex on what appeared to be a regular basis in their home. His breathing began to come in pants.

Yes, she had told him time and time again that she loved him, that she had always loved him, that he was the one. But she'd never said he was the only one.

Inuyasha could think of nothing but violence. He could see himself coming home early, bursting in on the two of them, taking his head off with one blow. And then he would tear her apart. He would rip Kagome into shreds and cover himself in her hot blood, bathe in it, surrounded in her life. It would be like being inside her one last time, like an organ within her.

Of course he would follow her not long after.

It hadn't occurred to Inuyasha until the moment he saw her kiss another man that he was in love with his wife. Yes, he'd been in love with Kagome since that first day, and it had only grown when he had gotten to know her. Now he was hopelessly tangled up in his feelings and knew himself well enough to know that life without her would be nothing more than the prolonged act of dying. So why not just make things easier on everyone and eat a bullet after he took care of her?

But then there was revenge.

Inuyasha got up out of his chair, absentmindedly dropping his ruined tablet on the ground, leaving his speechless employees gaping after him.

There was a way he could make things right without having to kill her.

If he punished her until his heart was satisfied, then they would be even. But he didn't want to hurt her the way she had hurt him. Inuyasha was strong, much stronger than Kagome, and if she loved him as much as he sometimes saw in her eyes that she did, then him fucking someone else would destroy her and he just might really lose her. It was still early enough for him to salvage their marriage. All it would take was some creativity.

With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone and called the number he'd almost deleted a hundred times.

"Miroku? It's me."

"Inuyasha? Holy shit, I haven't heard from you since you got married. How goes it, man?"

Opening up his car door, he slammed it behind him and slumped in the front seat. "This line is secure."

There was a pause on the other end. "This is for your wife, isn't it?"

He nodded before remembering the other man couldn't see him. "Yeah."

He sighed. "I told you. When you called me up and said you would no longer be paying your monthly subscription because you found the girl of your dreams, I told you exactly what would happen."

"Just fuck off and tell me when you can do it!"

Miroku chuckled. "If you've got enough life left in you to snap at me, I guess things aren't too bad. All right, why don't you come by tonight."

Checking his watch, he replied, "How about I come by in an hour?"

"An hour? Has she already been sedated?"

"Not yet. But I don't want to make her think something's up by not coming home, and I don't think I can act normal and shit around her."

"Fine. I'll move some things around, but only because you've been my best client."

"That's hardly something to be proud of."

The drive home seemed much too short. Inuyasha could not believe he was doing what he had sworn he'd never do again, especially to someone like Kagome. It was her fault, he reminded himself. All she had to do was stay faithful. All she had to do was love him and no one else. All she had to do was let things stay the same.

Soundproof walls explained why he walked in on what he did.

Inuyasha had thought Kōga would have left after Kagome seemed so concerned about the time. But no, there the wolf demon was, on top of his wife on the couch.

"Inuyasha!"

Kagome's lips were swollen by kisses that weren't from him. Tears fell down her face. Her shirt had been ripped open, bra torn, breasts exposed and shining with the bastard's saliva. Kōga's smug face smirked at him and he didn't even notice when he cracked him across the jaw hard enough to break it as well as fracture some of the bones in his own hand. It had been a sloppy hit, unplanned, more emotion than calculation, and he did it again and again. Kagome was sobbing, holding a throw pillow to her bare chest. All he could see was the blood on his hands, his and that fucker's. When he stopped trying to fight back, he began to kick him, again and again, right to the head, the face, the stomach. Anything and everything.

"Oh gods, Inuyasha, I'm so—"

He couldn't take it. He couldn't bear to hear what she'd say. He didn't even want to look at her.

Grabbing the pillow she held to herself, he slammed it over her face hard enough to pin her down to the couch. He heard a crack and her scream. Had he broken her nose? He flinched. The sound brought him somewhat back to himself and he pressed down a little more gently. Kagome was struggling, grabbing at his wrist, trying to push him off her. She didn't use her nails, didn't try and hurt him. She only tried to stop him.

He was sobbing audibly by the time she stopped moving.

Cradling her limp body to his chest, he choked out her name. Forcing himself to look at her, he saw the damage he had done. Blood covered her lips and chin, having leaked from her nose, which was definitely broken. It was already showing the beginnings of an awful bruise around it. Tears still clung to her eyelashes and they glittered like little diamonds. Clutching her tighter, he asked himself if he was satisfied.

Inuyasha wasn't even close.

Kissing her one last time on her lips, he was relieved to feel that she was still breathing. A gurgle sounded from the floor and he took that as evidence that the bastard was alive. Lucky fucker. That added a new element to his plan, one he wasn't entirely sure he wanted. But why not make the bastard who had made his wife unfaithful suffer as well?

Arranging the both of them in his car made him feel sick. He couldn't bear to put Kagome in the back and have them that close to each other, so he buckled her in the front, gently arranging her head so it leaned on a pillow, already having blotted the blood from her face until not even a trace was left. He didn't bother even buckling Kōga in, instead just leaving him handcuffed on the floor. Something like that wouldn't be enough to hold a normal demon once they regained consciousness, but Inuyasha had beaten the shit out of him pretty bad and was confident he could do so again at the slightest sign of him coming to.

The warehouse that Miroku called a laboratory was completely empty, one of the doors raised so he could drive right in. Getting out, he waved at his old associate before tenderly picking his wife up and cradling her in his arms, not yet wanting to set her down on one of the sterile and cold gurneys.

Miroku whistled. "You really did a number on her."

Inuyasha grit his teeth so hard he swore he heard one crack. "I caught them together."

It was all he needed to say. Miroku understood this kind of business and hadn't judged for a long time. "She's a lot hotter in person than she is in the pictures."

He clutched her tighter. "I'm not leaving during the process. I know you like to sample the merchandise."

A sleazy grin overtook his face. "Fine by me, friend. So, do you want it permanent?"

Permanent.

It was an attractive thought.

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "Not for her. But do it for him."

Miroku's face showed his surprise. " _Him_? You brought the guy she was fucking around on you with?"

Taking off his suit jacket, he put it down on the gurney before carefully laying Kagome down on it, not wanting her to be cold or to touch the surface so many other women had met their death on. With loving fingers, he arranged her hair in a black halo, his own fallen angel. Kissing the back of her hand, he left her for just a moment, longer than he could bear, to drag the now half-conscious Kōga by the hair out of the car. Groaning, his eyes opened, blinking a few times before he fell back into a stupor.

"You sure you want both of them done? It seems to me like you've already forgiven her. Even I can see how much you love her."

"Love and forgiveness are two very different animals, Miroku."

"I mean, you've fucked around on her probably hundreds of times. Why can't you just call it even?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything. Somehow, it would feel emasculating for someone other than himself to know that he hadn't even looked at another woman for the entirety of his marriage. His love, his obsession, was so obvious to him now. After all, men like him didn't change unless something drastic occurred. He wondered if Kagome assumed just like everyone else that he had been having affairs. It was true he had been late coming home whenever he actually went in to the office, but that was because he rarely went in, wanting to spend all his time with his wife. Was that why she had done it? There was no way for him to ask her now.

"Can you permanently erase everything after seven PM today? For Kagome."

It was about the time he had come home. After all, when this was all over and his revenge was completed, he didn't want her to remember him beating her boyfriend half to death and almost killing her.

"Sure thing. And a complete wipe on this dickhead? Fuck, he has the kind of face you just want to punch. Women must love him."

Inuyasha nodded and sat down in Miroku's computer chair to watch. It was a time-consuming process, which was why he had never stayed before, preferring to have his purchases delivered, but he couldn't chance Miroku sampling his wife. He wasn't as slick as he thought and he'd found all his orders tampered with one way or another, usually in the ass.

Miroku was many things. Doctor, engineer, chemist, pervert, and complete fucking lunatic. Your basic mad scientist.

For those in the know, and they were few, Miroku could make you your dream girl.

You could either provide your own girl (or guy, if you swung that way) or give him specifications, but that wasn't the important part. The important part was the magic he worked on their insides.

Miroku could wipe away every single trace of a person, leaving behind a blank slate. Or maybe only some parts. He could even insert false memories. Invent an entire personality, a whole life. Make every fantasy reality.

It was part slavery and part murder, Inuyasha knew that very well. Unlike most guys, he used Miroku's work as a sort of escort service. Instead of paying the complete fee, which was ridiculously high, every time, they worked out a subscription for him since he was by far his best customer. He'd give Miroku a type and Miroku would deliver flawlessly (except for the rape). Then he'd give them back to Miroku after a few days to a week and he'd restore their memories and they'd wake up in a ditch somewhere, not knowing they had just been the whore of one of the richest men in the public eye.

But then he had met Kagome and something that had seemed so exciting before was dull and disgusting.

Being with Kagome had purified him, or at least he thought it had. He'd even donated massive amounts of cash to stop human trafficking, though he'd never disclosed any information on Miroku to the authorities. Maybe a tiny part of him had agreed that Kagome was too good to be true and this would have to happen sometime. Maybe.

"Alrighty, the wipes are done. Who do you want them to be?"

Inuyasha stared at his wife's torn shirt.

"They can't talk, can't remember or learn words. They can't walk. They can only crawl. Following my orders brings them pleasure. The more they get fucked, the more they want it."

"Pretty standard, if a little kinkier than usual. You sure you want to stay? It does take a pretty long time."

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you fuck my wife in the ass."

"...What about him?"

"Only if you go in dry."

While the program ran on Kagome, Miroku got busy with the wolf. Inuyasha tried to keep his eyes off of it, but there were only so many things to look at. After a while, he openly watched. It wasn't arousing, but it did bring him a certain amount of joy to see the attempted wife-stealer raped. The bastard was completely out of it thanks to anesthesia and would probably heal before ever feeling the pain of the tears in his ass, but as he watched the blood coat Miroku's dick, he liked to imagine he was internally trapped in a world of agony, unable to react to his torment. He'd read about patients undergoing surgery who were kept completely immobile by the anesthesia yet felt the whole thing. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

With one last grunt, Miroku filled Kōga's ass with cum. Sighing in satisfaction, he disengaged himself and went around to the prone demon's face, where he wiped off his dick in his hair.

"You're a lucky man, Inuyasha. That ass is goddamn divine."

It had been maybe fifty years since the half-demon had last fucked a man. Everyone his age had experimented with all that could be experimented with. While he generally had a good time with other men, they ultimately just didn't do it for him. He craved the delicate beauty of women. Loved to suck on their breasts, play with their pussies. With guys, it was like masturbating, only more work. Still, he was committed to the idea of humiliating Kōga in every way possible, making him his eternal slave dog slut.

"If you're not going to let me fuck her, at least tell me what it's like."

Inuyasha growled. "You seriously want me to give you a verbal porno about my wife?"

"Yeah, man. I mean, she has to be pretty fucking good to get you to settle down with her."

She was. Kagome had taken to sex quickly, but wasn't a whore about it. She loved him with her body, freely and innocently, giving all of herself to him. How would he explain something like that to a rapist creep who basically killed women before selling them off to rich rapist creeps?

"She was... She's... It's just better when you're married and you're happy."

Miroku nodded sagely. "I have a date tonight with a lovely woman I plan on proposing to soon."

He snorted. "You? With a real woman?"

"Hey! It's not impossible. You introduced us, too."

Realization slowly dawned on him. "Oh fuck... You don't mean—"

Miroku didn't hear him, a dreamy expression on his face. "You remember that self defense instructor from three years ago, right? You wanted her to be a dominatrix who was secretly submissive. Well, guess who rescued her from the wilderness off that hiking trail?"

"Dude, you didn't. Tell me you seriously didn't drop her off and then pretend to rescue her just to get into her pants."

"It wasn't just to get into her pants! From the first moment I saw the lovely Sango in that skin-tight catsuit that outlined her ass so very nicely, I knew she was the woman for me."

Fuck, the man needed help. But that was none of his concern.

"Is this thing close to being done?"

He went over to his computer and looked at rows of flashing numbers that seemed entirely random to Inuyasha.

"Your wife is done but her boyfriend seems to have a bit more to go. He's a fighter."

His hands clenched. "Don't call him that. She can't have a boyfriend, she's married."

"Are you sure you'd rather go to the trouble and expense of all this instead of just killing them?"

"I don't want Kagome to die. And I need to make this right. I'm trying to make myself feel right."

"You don't think you're kind of overreacting—"

"Miroku, if the next thing you say to me isn't that the bastard is done, then I swear they will never find your body."

He moved to go back to Kagome, holding her hand like she was terminally ill and not unconscious after getting her personality and memories stripped away. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since time flowed differently inside his mind. All he could do was think about her, about their marriage, the shared memories that, for now, were only his.

Recently, she'd brought up having a child. It came out of nowhere for him and he actually spat out the wine he'd been drinking. He'd been suspicious of the extra nice meal she had prepared of all his favorites, things she had long ago grown tired of preparing, trying to inject variety into his diet.

Instantly, she was at his side with a napkin, blotting at the mess. "Is it that surprising that I want to have children?"

He shook his head, momentarily unable to look at her. "It's just too soon!"

She put her hands on her hips and he knew this was going to be a whole deal now. "We are _married_. It's what married couples do!"

"Plenty of other married couples—"

"You know how badly I want a family, Inuyasha," she pleaded, and he couldn't resist looking at those big brown eyes in her pretty face. "Can we at least talk about it?"

"I've got to go to work."

"It's eight o'clock at night!"

"I forgot some stuff." Grabbing his keys, he paused at the door. "Whatever you do, don't miss your birth control appointment. I'm serious, Kagome. You haven't seen me angry yet, but if you do that, you'll regret it."

He didn't stay to see the look on her face.

Was that why she had done it?

Inuyasha was still too new to the idea of loving his wife to know if he wanted a family, but he did know he wouldn't want one with anyone else. Was it selfish that he wanted her all to himself? Did it make him a bad person if he thought he couldn't love anyone but her?

He thought of the pictures she had drawn him as a child, all things they'd ended up doing together during their marriage, not entirely on accident. He never got to show them to her, to tell her he had kept them and that he cherished them now. Those proofs of her lifelong love. He remembered seeing her that first time at her graduation, encircled in his arms, and how he had lost his breath. He remembered that first night together, how neither of them had slept, both pretending to be asleep for the other's sake. How he'd stroked her skin in the morning sunlight, for a moment genuinely believing he had died and his lingering consciousness had produced this heaven for him. He remembered that one notable time they'd met when she was a child, just before her father had died, when Kun-loon had stopped by with a Christmas gift of a home-cooked meal, going on about the "present" he had gotten Kagome (he'd just given her an extra fifty bucks for the kid). How Kun-loon had wanted a picture and Kagome sat in his lap and smiled up at him and she was so warm and he hadn't noticed he was smiling back and how he could still feel the weight of her hours, days later...

For her sake, he'd try to get his revenge over with quickly.

**O\o/O**

Remembering how his current life had come to be had Inuyasha digging his claws into Kōga's scalp until it felt like trepanning. A small whimper was the only reaction the wolf gave, continuing his otherwise superb blowjob. It had only been a couple months and his hatred still burned as strongly as it had when he had first seen them together. Driving his hips faster and faster, he fucked the demon's face, concentrating on the feel of Kagome's lips and the muffled sound of Kōga's pain. With that combination, it wasn't too long before he came.

Shoving the beast aside, he twirled a tendril of Kagome's hair around his finger before going to the kitchen and getting a piece of leftover pizza. The last meal Kagome had prepared still sat in the fridge, rotting in the back, covered in mold and foil. He couldn't bring himself to throw it out. The pizza tasted like grease and sawdust. Going over to his chair, he turned on the TV. Kagome settled at his feet, leaning her head against his knee and looking up at him pleadingly. He gave her the rest of the pizza. Usually, he fed her better, getting premade meals delivered at the beginning of each week and heating them up exclusively for her, leaving take-out for himself and the cheapest dog food he could find for Kōga. He made sure she got her meds, but he really needed to take her to the doctor. Soon. He would do it soon.

Inuyasha watched TV and drank steadily until two in the morning, and afterward, he couldn't remember a thing he had seen. But he could recall the exact number of times Kagome had dozed off (three), kissed his knee (twenty-seven), and sighed (six). Kōga tried to join them several times, but his growls, always increasing in aggression, were enough to keep him away. Finally, he decided it was time to go to bed. Kagome followed on her hands and knees and he tried not to look at her. He hated seeing her like that, hated how much it turned him on.

His wife got onto the bed next to him. In the beginning, he had tried making her sleep on the floor, but she made such sad sounds and cried so heartbreakingly that he always gave in and held her throughout the night after maybe an hour at most.

Tonight, he felt dangerous. Everything was wearing on him and he was suffering. Hurting her hurt him. It seemed like they would never be even this way. Inuyasha was no longer sure what he wanted or even what he was capable of.

"I miss you," he whispered, stroking her soft cheek with the back of his claw.

Uncomprehending, Kagome smiled at him and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. For a moment, she just looked up at him, completely content, before kissing the center of his palm and putting his hand on her newly rounded stomach.

The half-demon went cold. Did she know? Did she know she was pregnant? Did she know it was his?

Had she known before all this?

Suddenly, he was angry. It was like his heart had become a weapon intent on destroying its home. His chest was being ripped open from the inside, filled with fiery agony. And it was all because of her smile and her kiss.

"Why did you do it?" His voice was hoarse from holding back tears. Grabbing her by the hair, he yanked her head back, making her arch her back in pain. "Why did you fuck me over!? I gave you everything! I even loved you. I fucking _loved_ you."

Kagome squirmed and made pleading little cries, not too loud, not wanting to set him off further.

"You get away with so much shit. You don't even know how to fucking talk but you still know how to manipulate me. You know I can't stop loving you." He attacked her neck with his lips, sucking hard, all for his pleasure and not for hers. "If you remember anything, remember that this is your fault. _You_ did this to me, to us, Kagome."

Kōga knelt next to the bed closest to Kagome, eyes fixed hungrily on her struggling frame. Inuyasha cursed; he had forgotten to lock the bastard in his cage.

Every night, he fucked Kagome in front of the man who had tried to steal her from him. Some remnant of what he'd felt for her must have lingered, because the wolf was always upset for hours afterward, whining and pacing in the cage, pawing at the lock.

Grabbing him by the stupid ponytail, he considered for the hundredth time shaving it off. Inuyasha dragged him over to the large cage, throwing him in as harshly as possible without breaking the bars and quickly punching in the code to lock it. He swore Kagome looked at him reproachfully, but he was tired and no doubt imagining things, wanting her to recover herself.

"Time to take care of you, pretty girl," he murmured, laying back down next to her. The half-demon realized he was using her name less and less. Whether it was because it hurt too much or because she didn't act like herself, he didn't know.

Unable to help herself any longer, Kagome pounced on him, locking her lips with his. He really did let her get away with too much shit. It was giving Kōga ideas. Every time the demon tried to do the things Kagome did, Inuyasha had to tire himself out with performing another beating. The idiot never learned. Soon, his anger was forgotten, and he lost himself in his wife's frantic kisses and ministrations.

He had thought she was completely uninhibited before, but that was obviously wrong. Wiping away her memories had given her sexuality a sort of wildness, and she did things to and for him another woman never had in all his long life. And the addition of making her want him the more she had him made sure he was a very busy and very drained half-demon. This version of her was very impatient when it came to her satisfaction, and he always allowed it, smugly enjoying that it was him who made her feel that way and no one else.

Wasting no time, Kagome removed the pants he had never bothered to zip back up again, clawing at them until they were off and then flinging them on the floor. Not bothering to push his underwear down lower than just enough to reveal what she wanted, her eyes lit up when she saw his cock. Engulfing it whole, she moaned at the taste, her eyes on his face the entire time, studying his reactions. She could never be as skilled at that as Kōga, but he still liked her blowjobs better. Everything was better with Kagome.

Her tongue followed a vein, licking him from the very base of his shaft all the way up to the flared tip, where she sucked him again, keeping just the mushroom head in her mouth, small droplets of her drool mixed with his precum oozing down his cock. Panting, he clutched at the sheets as she hovered over him, glowing brown eyes on his face as she spread herself apart, giving him a peek at how wet she was. Grabbing him, she rubbed the head of his penis against her, making the both of them whimper at the feeling of their flesh meeting once more.

It seemed she took more pleasure in his loud groan than in the feeling of sliding over him. Not to say she was bored or he was lacking, but her priorities had been shifted. At first rocking slowly, searching for a rhythm, it wasn't long before she was throwing her head back and almost screaming as she bounced up and down on his pole. One of her hands was on his chest, the other on her breast, tweaking her sensitive nipples, switching back and forth, keeping them perpetually rock hard and red as rubies. It was almost torture not being able to take them into his mouth and suck on them until she came. But he liked staying still, allowing her to use him like he was nothing more than her dildo. Perhaps his own priorities had shifted as well.

Slapping her formerly occupied hand down on his chest, she somehow found the energy to slam herself down on him with a force that nearly took his breath away. Kagome's breasts were bouncing furiously, hypnotizing him, and he didn't even notice he was about to come until her fingers found his own nipples and pinched. A surprised gasp escaped him and then he was shooting a hot torrent of cum inside her, filling her up. She continued to ride him, rubbing her pussy now sticky with semen, and it only took her a few seconds to sound her orgasm to the room.

Kissing her lips once before spooning her, he encircled her in his arms, his hands over the small swell of her stomach. In a little while, he'd get up and clean them off, but for now he just wanted to hold her, not even caring that her hair was in his mouth or he could hear the idiot banging on the cage bars and whining. It was only during times like these that he could pretend nothing had ever gone wrong between them. That Kagome had stayed faithful and eventually brought him around to the idea of having children, of being a complete family. Those daydreams made him the happiest he'd ever been, and he could only imagine how blissful life would be if it was all real.

At the beginning, when he'd been trying to make the best of things, he'd consoled himself by thinking that at least now he'd have some peace and quiet. Inuyasha loved Kagome, but gods, the girl could and did talk, sometimes for hours without pause or waiting for his input. Mostly, he liked it and admired her ability, but in his darker moments, he wished he could leave and just go somewhere with no noise. Yet now he found that his life was boring without her constant chattering. Daily, he imagined how excited she'd be about the baby. He could picture the ecstatic joy on her face during every ultrasound, her grateful kisses, her happy tears.

She'd say, "Oh, Inuyasha, I hope the baby has your ears! And your eyes... I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, I just want a miniature version of you."

And he'd blush and tell her to save that kind of stuff for when they were alone. No need for the doctors to know how cute they got together. When they were home, they'd cuddle together in bed like they were doing now, and he'd kiss the back of her neck and say—

A loud crash brought him out of his fantasy.

Growling, he turned over to see Kōga attempting to break the door of his cage. By the looks of it, he had nearly succeeded. Of course he couldn't have a moment of peace with his wife. That was too much to ask for. It was time for the idiot's regular punishment.

Reaching through the bars the few inches his fingers could reach, he yanked the wolf back by the tail until his ass was pressed against the cold metal. The beast yelped and put his head down, cowering now that he knew what was coming. Inuyasha fisted his cock, still wet with the juices from Kagome. Excited at the prospect of punishing his worst enemy, he was soon standing straight up and rock hard.

Wrapping the tail around his hand, he pulled the wolf back even further until his ass cheeks filled the spaces between bars, his crack pressed against the metal. A slap of his cock against each cheek made Kōga yelp each time. Loathing that some part of Kagome would touch the wolf, he plunged his slick cock inside the full-demon, grunting at the tight fit. Miroku had been right, something Inuyasha had discovered early on. The wolf's ass was fucking spectacular. Maybe not as good as any hole of Kagome's, but it was damn good.

Kōga panted and clawed at the floor of his cage, littered with past claw marks that showed how often he needed to be punished. The sound of that urgency made Inuyasha pound his hips all the harder into the other male's sinfully tight, hot ass. Desperate for a release he had been denied for months, the wolf pounded back hard and fast, but the half-demon was far ahead of him, the lingering sensitivity from his earlier time with Kagome ensuring that there would be no accidental orgasm for the ass slave. Kōga clawed at his caged member, trying to jerk himself off, sticking his fingers in and rubbing every part he could reach, but the tightness at the base prevented him from doing anything but aggravating his problem further. The howl of frustration the wolf released had Inuyasha's balls tightening and he slapped his palm down on one ass cheek again and again, hard enough to make him bruise. Then he was finished, pushing the beast off of his cock while it still spurted cum.

On the bed, Kagome was touching herself, as she usually did when he and the wolf were together. Kissing her mouth, he watched her fingers drive in and out of her cunt, coated in his milky sperm and her own juices. Before, she had touched herself at his request, and then only briefly, mostly to entice him rather than to make herself feel good. Inuyasha couldn't have guessed at how much he'd enjoy watching her get herself off. If he wasn't so exhausted, he'd take her again. Instead, he merely helped her along, running his palms over her soft skin, kissing her warm breasts, loving the woman she was then and now.

With a sudden cry, Kagome's hips raised off the bed and hovered for a few seconds, her essence dripping from her pussy down her ass and onto the sheets. It was a glorious sight, seeing her with an arched back, firm breasts pointing to the ceiling with rose red nipples, all supple perfect lines, every muscle in her body straining until she slumped back into his waiting arms, smiling as he showered her face with kisses.

Before she could drift off, he carried her to the bathroom. She was too tired to even put her arms around his neck, trusting him entirely. Now that she couldn't speak, her eyes said so much. Or maybe he was only just now noticing how much she spoke to him using only a look. Even though a shower would be much easier, he drew her a bath. Kagome loved baths. Personally, he didn't see the appeal to stewing in a vat of your own filth, but he supposed he could learn to like it eventually, as long as she was in there with him. Making sure the water was good and hot, just how she liked it, he tossed in some of her smelly salts and oils and a little bit of bubbles, too.

Kagome played with the foamy bubbles like a child, albeit a sleepy child. Inuyasha was content just sitting behind her, lazily cleaning her off, giving her a kiss every so often on whatever bit of skin tempted him. It was so nice being with her like this. He could almost forget everything, even going to work tomorrow. But not occupying himself with work meant he had to think about what she did and what he did and he knew from experience that would drive him crazy. The last time he'd taken off work hoping to enjoy himself at home all day with his pets, Kōga had ended up with a broken spine. His wife had been so scared of him after that it had taken over a week before she willingly came near him. He didn't want a repeat of that experience.

At five in the morning, he tucked them both in to the dirty bed, giving him only an hour of sleep. Since Kagome wasn't able to do housework anymore and finding a maid who would keep her mouth shut was impossible and he wasn't one for cleaning up, he only changed the sheets maybe once every couple of weeks. In her current state, Kagome didn't complain. She was just happy to cuddle up to him, warm in his embrace, pampered and cared for, unlike the wolf.

The next day found him bored at work. A headache was raging behind his eyes and had been for days. His new secretary wanted to fuck him badly, and he was disgusted with himself for not being interested in the slightest. Fuck, he was acting like he was mated. What the hell had happened to him? Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Kagome's face, alight with the intelligence he hadn't known was such an essential part of her. But how could he get her back when he still had yet to satisfy himself to the point of being able to forgive her?

Gods, he missed her.

More than anything, he wanted to see her again, see her as she had been, and hear her talk, say his name with that loving inflection only she could ever have. Warm and soft and sweet, every bit of her.

It wasn't even time for lunch yet and he was already sickly sentimental. While one of his executives, a complete asshole he would pay to watch be burned at the stake if he didn't develop projects that increased profits so much, droned on about something he guessed was important, he caught sight of his new tablet. Right there on the table in front of him, gently used since he had come to associate such things with his life being ruined. It had everything from his old tablet loaded onto it already. Including the app that had revealed a secret he'd rather not have discovered.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he turned the app on. Maybe it was because he wanted to see her so badly, or maybe the bond he shared with her was calling him. Inuyasha didn't care. Making sure no one else could see the screen, he turned on the app.

Quickly scrolling through the different rooms until he found the one she was in, he watched her sleep, curled up in the bed, her head on the pillow that was his. His heart beat a little harder at that. Gods, the things she did to him. Kōga was banging against the bars of his cage with his head. It was disgusting and amusing to watch the blood flow down from his self-inflicted wounds. It looked like he had just begun, so maybe he hadn't yet managed to give himself a concussion with his thick skull. Beginning to stir, Kagome squinted at the cage, brow furrowed in worry. Now that she had noticed him, he increased his self-mutilation.

Inuyasha was mildly intrigued but also feeling apprehensive. What the hell was going on? It was obvious this was something new to Kagome. The bastard had never done this before. Inuyasha had never smelled blood or anything when coming back home, unless it was due to one of the punishments he'd dished out.

Sliding to the ground, Kagome approached the cage on hands and knees. The wolf sped up frantically, urged on by her nearness. Reaching out a hand, she gently patted his arm. He stopped. Smiling, she took the end of the sheet and wiped the blood off his head, blanching when she saw the wound but continuing anyway. Faster than the eye could track, he shot out a hand and grabbed hers. He gave her a look and then glanced at the door of the cage, again and again, appearing to be making some sort of noise.

Nodding brightly, she went to where the lock was. It was at this time Inuyasha began to worry. The lock was opened by a simple series of numbers: the anniversary of their marriage and the day they had met and her graduation and the start of their life together. It was demon-proof and certainly idiot-proof. At first, she just stared at the keypad, head cocked to the side like she was trying to figure out an especially difficult mathematical equation.

Could she?

From the first, he had noticed the differences between Kagome and Kōga's mental abilities. Maybe it was because her wipe wasn't permanent or maybe she was just naturally brighter, but she wasn't so much an animal as a mute child. Now Kōga had most definitely become an animal, which he proved again and again every day. Less than an animal. Even rats could learn.

His stomach dropped while he watched her tentatively punch in the numbers, getting it right on the very first try. Usually he released the lock on Kōga's cage remotely when he was putting the key in the door, giving him just enough time to greet him in the usual way. The reasons were multiple, but mostly he didn't want the bastard being able to touch what was his.

It all seemed to happen at once. Kōga leapt free, fear crossed Kagome's face, and she made a valiant effort to try and crawl away, but he tackled her to the ground, heedless of the little life growing inside her. His caged cock was already trying to force its way inside her. Inuyasha was frozen for a second, filled with panic and fear and white hot burning rage, but just for a second. Then he leapt into action, leaving the room without a word, keeping the tablet on this time, forcing himself to watch Kagome once again get fucked by someone that wasn't him.

But Kagome didn't submit.

With her new programming, it was puzzling. She should have been breaking him out for that express purpose, needing something to fill her at all times, crazy for sex. But she was fighting, scratching at the wolf, screaming, crying. Kōga didn't even seem to notice, too intent on entering her tight heat. The metal of the cage would surely scrape against her sensitive skin, hurting her inside. Inuyasha couldn't bear it. Even though there was no audio, he could hear her, hear her crying and calling for him.

The moment he entered his home, he knew what he needed. What he had needed from the start.

Going to the bedroom, where the beast was in the process of shoving himself inside someone else's wife, he stood and watched for a beat. Kagome noticed him before Kōga did, looking up at him with teary eyes and making pleading, begging noises. Much different from last time.

With a kick to the forehead, Kōga went flying off Kagome. The wolf was cowering, huddled over as though bowing to his master, but Inuyasha didn't care. When the idiot tried to paw at his crotch, expecting to appease his wrath that easily, he kicked him in the stomach, glad he had worn his pointiest leather shoes today. That had the wolf hitting the wall with a bloody smack that made Inuyasha smile. When he was about to kick him again, a hand on his thigh stopped him.

Kagome knelt at his side, knelt before her lord, her master, her husband. Her great big pleading eyes focused on his, wordlessly begging for her rapist's life.

The anger that overcame him surprised him. Never before had he wanted to hit Kagome, to hurt her just to hurt her. It was almost too tempting. But of course he would never hurt her like that again, especially when she was carrying his child. So he did the next best thing and growled at her as savagely as he could, getting in her face, faking a lunge. It worked and she backed away on hands and knees, smelling as frightened of him as he felt. Rounding on Kōga again, he grabbed him by the hair and shoved his face into the ground. As he was trained to do, he offered up his ass.

Since it was going to be the last time, Inuyasha promised to make it a fuck to remember.

Taking off his belt, he put it aside, and with a flick of his claw undid his pants. In one familiar movement, he was inside the other man. The demon beneath him growled in frustration, attempting to buck back onto him. Tugging harder on his hair, Inuyasha decided to give the wolf what he wanted for the first and last time. A punishing thrust made the wolf yelp. Fast and furious, he drove his dick into his pet, keeping an eye on his wife as he did so. Instead of touching herself as she usually did, she was hiding on the other side of the bed, covering her ears and crying, eyes shut tight as she trembled. To his complete and utter shame, watching her like that made him enjoy what he was doing a little too much.

Inuyasha had always known what dark things lurked inside him, but had rarely ever indulged them. But tonight was his night. He deserved this.

He knew now that his mistake had been letting Kōga live so long. What he should have done then he was going to do now. Reaching below, he grabbed the base of the demon's cock, slipping a claw under the bottom part of the cage, difficult to do since the wolf was so swollen with want. Since he'd thrown the key away right after he'd locked the thing, there was no easy way to get it off. Kōga panted in excitement, his ass meeting Inuyasha's hips thrust for thrust. He could feel the clenching muscles inside his ass, knew that if he were to take the cage off that he would come right then and there. Slowly, he began to drag the cage up. Kōga grunted at the pain, but continued to fuck him right back, focused on the pleasure. He lost his rhythm when Inuyasha's claws broke the sensitive skin of his penis, the blood running down his thighs in copious amounts.

With one last big tug, Inuyasha ripped his manhood out to the root.

Kōga clenched down so hard in his agony that the half-demon couldn't have possibly orgasmed, his dick strangled in a way that was so pleasurable it was almost painful. Blood quickly coated the white carpet, staining it such a dark red it almost appeared black. It was beautiful. It was justice. He realized the wolf had been screaming like a banshee for however long he had been stuck in his head. The headache he'd been fighting for what seemed like forever rose to new heights and his anger that had temporarily abated at the pleasure of such a brutal complete castration rushed back. What the fuck did Kōga have to scream about? He was just a dumb animal. It was Inuyasha who should be screaming. He'd lost the love of his life to a dumb animal and she'd probably be scared of him forever now, even after he wiped her memories of this, even well into another life. Why did he have to love someone so different, so gentle, so human?

With both hands, he slammed the wolf's face into the ground, muffling his screams with the blood-soaked carpet. Even the gurgles made his head hurt, fuck. Again he slammed his head down, and again. Finally, he quieted down a little, groaning and crying out sporadically. Withdrawing from the beast's ass, he turned him over, inspecting his handiwork. Inuyasha wanted to laugh and cringe all at once. What had once passed for the wolf's brain was now flung across the room, and all that remained there was a bloody gap of about an inch. Gorey carnage.

The sobbing demon's face was covered in blood and Inuyasha was beginning to lose his boner from the pain of the headache. It was about time to finish up, though under other circumstances he could have prolonged this for hours, even days. Punching the bastard in the mouth until his teeth were knocked out, either swallowed or spit out, he stuck his cock into the gummy hole. Choking, the wolf tried to push him out with his tongue, in so much pain he could barely comprehend what was happening to him. Wrapping his stupid fucking ponytail around his hand as many times as he could, Inuyasha fucked his face, making sure his victim's neck was at the least comfortable angle possible.

Something about the choked gags wasn't doing it for him anymore. No, the fucker was just too ugly now. Pulling on the hair tighter and tighter, he slammed as hard as he could every time, hearing the wolf's jaw crack once. The skin at the base of his neck began to tear with the force, and Inuyasha kept going, the vibration of the wolf's renewed screams making him feel close, so close. He was so concentrated on chasing his orgasm that he didn't even realize what was happening until he was suddenly holding a scalp in his hand. Looking at it in disgust, he shook it off, glaring at the wolf like it was his fault. The fucker had just turned him off to a ridiculous degree with his exposed skull. If he couldn't be fucked anymore, he couldn't be used anymore.

Inuyasha decided to be merciful and ended the wolf's life with one swipe of his claws along his throat. The rush of lifeblood that covered his still mostly clothed body was long overdue, and he immediately felt almost peaceful.

Now it was Kagome's turn.

It was a short trip over Kōga's corpse and around the corner of the bed to where his wife was weeping in the fetal position. A small part of him hurt at how scared she was, but he knew it would all be all right. After all, he knew what he needed now.

He needed Kagome to choose him.

Inuyasha needed Kagome to choose him, to choose a monster, over any other kind of life. She had to prove her love of him again, this time of all parts of him. And then they could go back to the way they were supposed to be.

Grabbing her by the ankles, he dragged her over to where the scene of brutality was located. When she persistently kept her eyes closed, he placed his hands on either side of her face, applying a little bit of pressure, and then a little more. That got her to look at him in shock. It appeared that although she was frightened of him, she hadn't actually believed he'd put his hands on her. But that was what he had to do.

"Look at him," he whispered. With a firm hold on her chin, he turned her face to the body. "You see that? It wasn't just because he touched you. I would have done that even if you had kept your fucking legs closed."

He kissed her lips, damp with tears and a faint trace of mucus. She squeaked in terror and tried to pull away in an immediate reaction, but he held her close to him, the blood that soaked his entire body rubbing off on her naked skin, changing her from golden-white to a red that was quickly going a rusty brown. It pleased him to see her painted to match her husband. Running his palms up and down her back, he grabbed her ass, more aroused now than he had ever been while fucking Kōga.

"I'm not going to force you," he said when could finally bear to break away. Taking her hand, he wrapped it around his length, coated in saliva and blood. "You can do whatever you want."

Seeming to be beyond tears, she continued to sob, more just gasping for breath than anything else. It came to him that perhaps she was having some sort of panic attack. Could she even do that with what had been done to her brain?

Getting to his feet, he stepped over Kōga's mangled corpse. On his knees on the other side, he held open his arms.

It wasn't even a few seconds before Kagome rushed into his embrace, heedlessly crawling over the body of her companion in slavery, trampling, desecrating. Holding her tight, he kissed the top of her head. Inuyasha comforted her for as long as she wanted, keeping his constant and waiting erection between them the entire time, an inappropriate reminder of her wifely duties. When she had finally come down some, she glanced down at it, then back up at him. Some of the light had gone out of her eyes. She was looking more like herself already.

The tentative touch she gave him was all he needed to unleash the fury of his lust.

Inuyasha kissed her so hard his fangs cut into her lips, tearing until they bled freely. The closest thing to an apology he would ever give her was sucking her blood from her lower lip and chin, smacking his enjoyment. Even though it seemed like she was regretting it now and moved to pull away, he already had what he needed, and she belonged to him again. Pushing her down to the wet floor, the blood stain still a little warm, he held her down by the shoulders as he thrust inside her.

Drawing back on his knees, he watched himself enter her, slow and fast. It was like their first time all over again, a rebirth of their marriage. Her breasts, a little bigger from pregnancy, shook like they never had before, bouncing temptations. Curling his middle, he ducked to taste them, licking the blood of the wolf off of them until they were clean and pure again, marked only by him. It gave him an idea and he reached down to rub at her hardly moist entrance, finding her clit and touching it just so. She'd told him many times that he had magic fingers, and it seemed like that hadn't changed, as she soon began whimpering and rocking her hips, so gently, almost like she hoped he wouldn't notice. After their years of marriage, she could still drive him crazy.

The sweetness of her nipples was better than candy and he scraped his teeth against them, loving the shudder the action produced. She was so close after such little time and attention. Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore, he knew he was going to blow at any moment. Smothering her once again, this time with his lips instead of a pillow, he savored the taste of her mouth, the softness of her lips. Without a warning, he yanked her back by the hair as he had done with the wolf, only much more gently, and drove his fangs into her neck, going rock still when she screamed, trying not to blow his load at the feel of her squirming.

Unclenching his jaw with a gasp, he looked at her. Kagome was confused and no longer aroused like she had been. That was fine, it wasn't mandatory. He could finish this himself. Inuyasha brought a hand up to the bleeding, jagged flesh of her neck, covering it, feeling her hurt skin pulse. His hips never stopped their rhythm, and though he didn't mean to, his other hand came up and he started to squeeze. A look of recognition and horror crossed Kagome's face and it was just like she remembered what he had done before. She struggled, but she didn't fight him. His heart swelled with love for her. So close, he was so close. All he needed was... Covering her lips with his again, he plunged his tongue into her mouth and _yes_ she kissed him back just as frantically, like she needed him more than air.

Now he knew for sure she felt the same way.

The orgasm that swept over him was so strong he swore he blacked out for a second, mindlessly driving himself into Kagome, unable to stop even if a SWAT team and a camera crew and his every acquaintance broke down his door. By the time he was finished, Kagome's lips were blue, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

It didn't concern him. Now he knew she could never leave him.

**O\o/O**

When Kagome opened her eyes, Inuyasha made sure he was the first thing she'd see. He was holding her hand and had been ever since he'd made the call.

"I-Inuyasha? What's going on?" she whispered, voice hoarse from the strangling.

He kissed her palm before enveloping her hand in both of his. "Do you remember what happened? Anything at all?"

"I feel awful," she coughed. Her brow furrowed. "What time is it?"

"Please, Kagome, just tell me!" It was hard not to sound too demanding, but somehow he managed, or at least he thought he did.

"Sorry." With a blushing face, she focused on the bedsheets. Slowly, her expression began to change. Guilt was nowhere present. "Where's Kōga?"

The fact that her worry for him was the first thing she voiced made him want to scream and punch through the walls.

Instead, he just patted her hand. "Kōga's the reason you're like this."

Lower lip trembling, she nodded. "I know that. Is he in jail?"

Now that was surprising. Inuyasha had only restored her memory, he hadn't made Miroku add anything.

"No. When he found out you were pregnant, he hurt you really bad, Kagome. I came home to see him hurting you and I... I kind of lost it. Kōga's dead."

Weeping, she threw her arms around him. "I knew you'd come. I knew you'd save me!"

What the fuck? Not understanding what was happening, he instead enjoyed his wife's embrace, enjoyed her being in her right mind.

"K-Kōga's been coming over recently. I didn't invite him," she was quick to say. "But I didn't know how to tell him to stop." Eyes on her lap, she continued. "I got really lonely, Inuyasha. I know you stay home with me as much as you can, but I miss going out. I miss having friends. And Kōga was always a good friend."

"You wanted to fuck him?" His voice was flat. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about, but he knew they had to.

"No!" she yelled, surprising him. "It was just... He brought over wine, and I'm not really sure it was just plain wine. I didn't even have a whole glass but I felt so out of it. And suddenly he got mad when I told him he had to go and then out of nowhere he kissed me and asked me to run away with him." There was the guilt. "For a second, I thought about it. I mean, he wants kids. I want kids. We like each other. It could work. But I'm in love with you, Inuyasha." She turned her big brown eyes on him and he felt himself melt. "Even if everything moved so fast between us, it wasn't _really_ fast, because I've loved you all my life. I love you more than my life. And I told him that. And he... Kōga... Is he really dead?"

Inuyasha nodded.

"I had never seen him so mad. I've never seen anyone that mad. It was like I wasn't a person anymore, and he just wanted to hurt me." A sob escaped her. "One moment, he was across the room, and the next he was on top of me. I was nowhere near my phone. I couldn't do anything but scream, but still no one came. Then you did." Her face dissolved in confusion. "I must have told him about the baby to stop him, but I don't remember that."

It took everything in him to hold her, to comfort her. Fuck. Fuck fuck _fuck_. Gods fucking dammit. He was the worst thing to ever happen to her. He was the worst thing to ever happen to the world. Nothing about her indicated she was lying. What was he going to do? How would he fucking live with himself now knowing that she was innocent?

"You were hurt so bad that the doctors had to put you in a coma to heal," he croaked. "Don't freak out, okay? It's been two months since that night."

Mouth dropping open, she looked down at her stomach and saw the bump, immediately relaxing. "Is the baby okay?"

He nodded. "The baby's fine. Were you... Did you try to tell me that night you made dinner?"

"...I knew you wouldn't like it, but I didn't think you'd hate it that much. I want a family, but I swear I didn't do it on purpose! It was supposed to be impossible." She bit her lip and he knew he could never leave her, even though she deserved someone infinitely better. "I know what people say about me. Never did I ever, even for a fraction of a second, want to get pregnant just so I can get a bunch of money from you. I know you don't love me, but even if you left me now with less than nothing, I'd still think I was the luckiest girl in the world for having been your wife."

Damn it, he was getting choked up. "This while thing made me realize how much of an idiot I was. I am. Kagome, I've loved you since the day we were married. Maybe even before that, in some way. And I don't ever want to be without you. I can't." Taking a deep breath, he decided to just get out with it now. "When I killed Kōga, you were there on the floor so helpless and fuck, I thought you were going to die, Kagome. It's okay if you're mad, you should be mad, because I took the choice away from you and mated you without your consent."

Her eyes shone with tears. "It's okay, Inuyasha. It's more than okay. This is better than anything I ever dreamed." Slow tears trekked down her face. "If this is the result, I'm glad Kōga did what he did, and I don't care how horrible that sounds."

"Knock knock!"

Inuyasha resisted turning around and punching the man. "What, Miroku?"

The man entered the bedroom, broad smile on his face. "Just checking in on my favorite patient. How's it going, Mrs. Taisho? Feeling okay?"

Kagome nodded. "I feel pretty good. It's like I wasn't out for longer than a night."

The smile turned into a smirk. "Good, very good. Well, since your husband was loving and loaded enough to keep you at home with a live-in nurse, I don't have to tell you when to go home. To be safe, I'd take things easy for the next week or so. No chores, no partying, and very little intimacy." He gave Inuyasha a smug glance and the half-demon was sure it was in revenge for not ever leaving him alone with Kagome. The bastard was damn convincing as a doctor, probably because he had attended medical school for a number of years before he was kicked out for "inappropriately lewd conduct" with some of the corpses intended to be used for dissection purposes.

"You can go now," Inuyasha said with a tight smile.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded.

"What? I want to be alone with my wife, is that a crime?"

"I'm sorry, doctor. Keep an eye out for a dinner invitation soon."

Miroku sighed. "My dear, you are a treasure. I'll be seeing you here for a follow-up in... When won't you be around, Mr. Taisho?"

He scowled. "Out. Now."

With a small bow, he left the room, yelling over his shoulder, "Remember to name your first-born after me!"

Inuyasha groaned and rested his head on Kagome's chest, taking comfort in the sound of her heartbeat. She lovingly ran her fingers through his hair and caressed his ears.

"When did you change the carpet? And is that—"

Grinning, he unlocked the cage and handed Kagome her present. "I got you a puppy. I know how much you wanted a cat, but I just can't stand them, so I figured this was the next best thing."

"Oh my gosh, I love it!" she squealed, taking the creature in her arms.

"Already neutered and everything. He just needs a name."

Giving him a kiss on the lips that made him dizzy, she began to prattle on about names for the puppy and the baby and how they'd be best friends. Content just listening to the sound of her voice, he smiled, happy to have his love, his family, returned to him. Maybe one day he could be deserving of her love. He was already making a good start by taking the consciousness of the man who had raped her and putting it inside a tiny dog. Kōga finally truly appeared to be the animal he always was.

Now that he had what he needed, they could be a happy family.


	3. His Chosen

**_Miroku and Sango are on the run when they finally come upon a place they believe to be safe. But the village's inhabitants are strange, and the friendly priestess may know the reason why._ **

**III: His Chosen**

Miroku's life only really began when he first saw her face.

He was in training, a wandering monk seeking nothing but enlightenment and to increase his powers in order to better serve the people of these lands. There was no time for luxury, no time for friendship, no time for love. When he came upon the tiny circle of huts that passed for a village, it made him almost collapse in relief. In the remote mountains, it was the first populated place he had come across in days, and he badly needed to refill his supplies.

"Hello, good sir," he said with a smile, laying on the charm as thick as was bearable. "I am but a poor wandering monk, seeking naught but to—"

"You'd have better luck literally anywhere else," the man replied, going back inside his hut.

"I sense a dark presence over the village. Do you really believe you do not have need of an exorcism? Surely, this place, as all places, must—"

"You're in the village of demon slayers," came the man's voice from inside. "Be on your way."

Gods damn it, of course that had to be the case. Just his luck.

"I don't have any coin, but perhaps you'd accept—"

"Just come in already, boy! It's cold as anything out there."

Miroku began to wonder if he would ever be allowed to complete a thought as long as he was in this man's presence. That said, the hut was warm, with a great big fire roaring in the center pit. Sitting down cross-legged on the floor, he breathed a sigh at the comforting heat.

"Thank you greatly for your—"

"My boy will be back any moment now with the good wine. About time I got to enjoy it."

"How old is your son?" It came out rushed, but nonetheless, he was proud at having finally been able to avoid interruption.

"He made twelve this past summer," he said with pride. "He's a good boy, but far too gentle. Probably would make a good monk, like you."

Miroku was certain that was not a compliment but smiled anyway. "I would be glad to see if he is suited for holy orders."

The man continued as though he hadn't spoken. "Can't do a thing with his weapon but knows all about herbs and such. I mostly let him do the cooking, since my wife passed two years ago now, gods rest her soul."

"My condolences. I will gladly make up offerings for her soul—"

"Most of the village is gone on a mission, which was why you found it so empty. Just me an' my boy."

His brow furrowed in concern. "Is that not unwise in these turbulent times? Bandits, or even armies, could set upon the village and you'd be close to helpless."

The man just laughed and offered him a cup of sake, broad and somewhat condescending smile on his face. They sat together for hours, but it seemed longer, the man telling him war stories and such, treating him like he'd lived a life of quiet luxury. Miroku didn't correct him, didn't feel the need to clue him in on how his mother had died and his father had left him hungry and cold to wander from town to town until a monastery took him in. How he had scavenged abandoned battlefields, searching for anything of worth in the pockets of the fallen. That would serve only to drag the conversation on even longer, and that was the last thing he wanted right now.

Quick footsteps echoed and suddenly the door was thrown open.

"Father, we've returned, but two of the men didn't make it back!"

Miroku didn't hear a word after that.

_That_ was most certainly not a boy.

Not a girl, either. This was a woman.

Her lean, muscled body was practically entirely exposed by how tight her leather suit was, every dip and curve available for his hungry eyes to feast on. Dark brown hair cascaded down her back, half out of her high ponytail. Not once did she turn her gaze on him, too preoccupied with relating the results of whatever mission she had been on to her father.

"The threat was eliminated and that was the objective. You did well, Sango."

"But if I hadn't—"

"You did well, Sango," he repeated dismissively. It seemed like his interrupting was something he did with more than just monks.

Her shoulders seemed to slump a little. "Where is Kohaku?"

He looked puzzled for a moment. "The boy was supposed to be back a good long while ago."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Sango appeared beyond anxious.

"Just a few minutes before our guest arrived," he said, gesturing to Miroku. "A little over an hour ago."

It wounded his heart when she barely spared him a glance. "An hour!?"

"Yes, but you know him. He was sulking something fierce because I confiscated his scythe until he learns to practice."

She collapsed to her knees. "Y-you sent him to get wine, didn't you? Didn't you!"

"You're worrying me, Sango," he said, looking like he wanted to run. "I've never seen you caught up in womanly hysteria before."

Covering her face with her hands, she stayed like that for a moment. Miroku wanted nothing more than to comfort her, but he didn't think a strange man attempting to soothe her would be welcome. When she revealed her face again, it was obvious she had been crying.

"The demon had been eating from a fresh corpse. A young boy, around Kohaku's age. The face... There was nothing that could have identified him. But still, I never thought..."

The man's face was blank, his earlier joviality vanished. "It happens. You know that. Kohaku knew not to go into the woods."

"He loved the animals." Her voice was tight. "So often, I’d find him there, talking to the animals like they were people. And they listened like they were. They weren't afraid of him at all." Putting her hand over her mouth, she tried to hold in a sob.

With a brief pat to her shoulder, the man opened the door. "I'll debrief the men."

And they were alone.

Miroku cleared his throat, just to remind her of his presence.

"Oh," she said, turning her big mahogany eyes on him.

They stared at each other.

"Your brother. Kohaku. I will lay his soul to rest."

"And how much would that cost me, monk?" she sneered.

He knew she just wanted to take her anger out on someone and a clergyman was usually the easiest target. "Nothing. I'll go right now and bury him, assuming you didn't already."

Sighing, she got to her feet. "There's not much left of him. And you won't have anyone to ask for donations. Demons too frequently enter the woods."

"That’s common of every dark place. I'm not worried."

"You really want to do this? Not even father or the other taijiya will. A taijiya who dies without fighting dies in disgrace and should be left for the animals to consume." Her face hardened. "Kohaku didn't even have a weapon. He didn't stand a chance. But they don't care."

"You and I do, however." Opening the door for her, he asked, "Are there any shovels or will we have to make do with rocks?"

Sango sighed. Suddenly, she seemed exhausted. "I'll take you to him."

They picked up a shovel from a shed on their way into the forest. The rest of the village seemed caught up in celebrating their victory over the demon and the large payment their warriors had received for vanquishing it. The glare his fair companion seemed to be most comfortable with sporting hardened and grew at the sight. He made sure to throw in a few prayers for her as well that she would not become bitter and spoil her loveliness.

Miroku smelled Kohaku before he saw him. Flies were already buzzing around the body. Deep enough in the forest that the sounds of celebration couldn't be heard, it was a peaceful enough place to hold the ceremony.

When Sango started to dig, he took the shovel from her. "That's my job."

Crossing her arms, she gave him a look to kill, which he tried to ignore as he got to work.

"I'll have you know that even though I'm a woman, I'm more than strong enough to do this all myself. It was my weapon that took down the demon."

"I'd never doubt your abilities, my lady," he said, grunting as he dug through the earth already beginning to harden with the approach of winter.

Sango edged closer to the hole. "Let's at least take turns."

"That would offend my masculine sensibilities."

Crossing her arms, she began to pace. Glancing at him every other step, she soon created a small path clear of the debris that otherwise lined the forest floor.

"Just let me _do_ something!" she yelled.

Her desperation made him pause and he wiped at his brow. Giving her the sternest look he could, he reminded himself that he was a monk and his vocation was to see people through times like these.

"Digging your brother's grave isn't going to make you feel any better. Don't wait to mourn him in private. In a village this small, privacy may never come. Get it out now before it builds up."

In contrast to her earlier behavior, she remained quiet. When he started to dig again, she sat down, hugging her knees. Before she leaned her forehead on her limbs to eclipse her face, he saw the slow tears trekking down her cheeks and knew they were far from the last. After a couple more hours, he finally had it deep enough. The remains weren't at all heavy, and it was a quick trip to get them into the hole. Sango didn't look up once. It was better that way. Covering the body with dirt was the easy part, and he was finished before long, silently praying the entire time and chanting a sutra when it was filled.

Sango picked a couple wildflowers, stragglers struggling to survive but stubborn, and placed them over the mound. She didn't say anything, but her eyes said she was communicating quite a bit to her departed sibling.

"You should at least get a hot meal in return for your work."

Miroku bowed to her. "Whatever you are able to give, I will gratefully and humbly receive."

"I'm not the greatest cook," she said, turning her back on him as she walked back to the village.

That would turn out to be an understatement.

"Any work of your hands is something I would view as a treasure, my dear lady Sango."

She was silent, and for a moment he wondered if he had been too bold, but when she glanced back at him, she was blushing.

Miroku delayed his wandering for a whole month. The villagers ignored him for the most part, not trusting or even liking him despite his efforts. He slept in the storage shed of the headman, Sango's father. It wasn't the roomiest of places, but it suited him just fine, especially when Sango brought him extra blankets, not able to meet his eyes, speaking gruffly like she was talking to a fellow soldier. The brightest parts of his days were when his lady love would finish her training and come seek him out. They would talk for hours, walking in the woods or sitting in her hut letting their tea go cold.

It took him that entire month to finally deflower her. A record.

Her beautiful long brown hair covered the breasts he had just finished worshipping. Her father was out with most of the village destroying some demon in the next town, and reason had at long last given way to passion between the two of them. Still slightly out of breath, he reached for his clothes.

"I suppose you'll be on your way now," she said dully.

"Of course."

Abruptly, she sat up. "Miroku, you awful lecher! How dare you—"

"We both have to go." He handed her the undergarments he had torn off her body.

"...What? You mean you're not abandoning me?"

Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned down and kissed her precious mouth. "Sango, I would never leave you. I _can't_. As far as I'm concerned, we are husband and wife now. But do you really think your father would approve of us?"

She paled, losing the ruddy glow he had brought to her skin. "Oh gods, he would kill you and I both were he to find out. Even if I hinted at wanting to marry you, he would do it. You're not a taijiya, it's forbidden!"

"So we have two options. Either I leave and we never see each other again and you marry one of your soldiers, or we run together and find a better life in another village far away."

She was already half-dressed. "I don't need much, so we'll travel light. Just the clothes on my back, my weapon, and you."

He couldn't stop smiling. "The same for me, my dear. Just all the things I need to survive, and you are chief among them."

Strapping her hiraikotsu to her back, Sango's brow was already furrowed in deep concentration. "We'll go through the forest. We don't have contact with the villages on that side."

"And then on to the next mountain." It was where he had been headed anyway before love’s arrow shot through his heart. "We'll find a nice, remote place and settle down. You can be a village protector and I can be their spiritual advisor."

She threw her arms around him and kissed him with all the passion she had. "I love you, Miroku. I'm ready to be your wife or die trying."

Her words brought tears to his eyes. Not trusting himself to speak, he grabbed her by the hand, and they fled into the woods, the dying sun giving them just enough light to see by. Traveling constantly by day, they slept in one another's arms at night. There wasn't an opportunity for them to make love like they had that once in the village, but they were too high on adrenaline and happiness for it to matter much.

It was two weeks before their supplies ran out.

Deep in the mountains, they hadn't seen a village for several days. Miroku was eerily reminded of when he had stumbled upon the slayer village. Fortunately, after barely a night of privation, they saw smoke in the distance. In a few hours, they could see the huts of the village. Overjoyed, they joined hands and ran like children toward the signs of life.

Miroku's heart skipped a beat and chills ran down his spine. There was an ominous dark feeling about the place. None of the few exorcisms he had performed thus far in his training had given him that feeling to this extent. Not wanting to ruin Sango's good mood, he stayed quiet. They would just stop here for supplies, he'd do a quick exorcism and earn them a place to sleep, and they'd be on their way.

"Visitors!" chirped a cheery voice.

Miroku almost jumped in frihgt. He hadn't seen the woman just a scant few feet away from them, kneeling just outside the thickly forested border of the village and gathering herbs. It was quickly ascertained that she was a miko from her garments. His heart sank. They probably wouldn't want his services. But that wouldn't stop him from trying. He had a wife to take care of now, after all, and that meant he had to work twice as hard.

"Hello!" Sango said back, all happy smiles. "We're just traveling to the next mountain and wanted to restock our supplies. Is there an inn here?"

The miko gracefully rose to her feet, brushing nonexistent grass off her robes. "No inn, I'm afraid. We're a very tiny community. But you're more than welcome to stay with me! I could use some company." Her smile was easy and like springtime. Had Miroku not been a married man, he would have been smitten with her on the spot, as he was sure the young men of her village must be.

"You're too kind," Sango said with feeling, elbowing Miroku in the side. "We must accept, but we cannot trouble you for long."

He winced. Already, she could read his mind.

"Nonsense! I can tell you two are trustworthy, and it would be a delight to make friends with people who treat me normally."

"Is it that hard being a miko? My old village didn't have one."

The two women were already walking away and he wondered when he had been left behind.

"You definitely have to have the calling to be able to live this way," she murmured.

The village was about half the size of the taijiya one, which had been exceedingly small. No more than twenty huts were standing in a circle. There in the center was one larger than all the rest, and that was where the miko took them.

"I'm Kagome, by the way." Giving them that smile of hers again, she brought out some delicate and expensive-looking teacups, a far cry from the handmade clay ones she should have had. "You must be tired after your journey. How long have you been traveling?"

"Weeks," Sango said in exasperation, accepting the jasmine-scented tea gratefully.

"It hasn't been so bad, my dear." Miroku sipped the tea. It even tasted expensive. "At least we were together."

They shared a look and it was like they were the only two people in the whole world.

"I knew you two were newlyweds!" She clapped her hands. "Oh, I didn't want to say this so soon, but you simply must put roots in our village. A young family is just what this place needs. That is, unless you have family elsewhere."

They both shook their heads, a bit stunned at the offer.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm afraid our intended destination is quite a way's off yet, so we really can't stay long."

"I understand. But keep us here in mind should you ever desire a change."

They stayed talking long into the night. Well, Sango and Kagome did. While he chimed in now and then, he could tell it didn't really matter whether he did or not. The women seemed to have really hit it off. He was glad for Sango. Back in her home village, she hadn't really experienced any close relationships, other than with her brother.

"Oh goodness!" Kagome said suddenly, getting to her feet. "I've had so much fun chatting that I forgot to bring grandfather his dinner. Please excuse me."

Quickly, she heated up a bowl of broth, seasoning it with a few special spices he had never seen before. No rice. The old man must have been on his last legs. When she returned, she looked sad.

"My grandfather is the only family I have left in this world. He is close to the grave and not even anything I can do will heal him. He's even lost the ability to speak, and his mind is completely gone."

Sango put a hand over hers. "I am so sorry, Kagome. You are a good healer and an even better granddaughter, and he must know that."

Her smile was fleeting. "It's late. You two can use the guest room. And don't worry about making any noise," she winked. "Grandfather's out cold and I'll be at the temple most of the night."

Since it was the first time he would be able to enjoy the woman he had taken for his wife in so long, Miroku didn't object to her offer, even though such frankness coming from a miko would have troubled him normally. There was some nervousness as they rolled out their bedrolls in the unusually spacious room. It had been so long. So far, the adrenaline had kept them going, but would it still be worth it?

They needn't have worried.

That night reaffirmed for the both of them why it was they had given up everything just to be together. When he awoke in the gloomy sunlight of the early morning, he couldn't believe his dreaming had ended. There she was, still there beside him, naked beneath their thin blanket.

Miroku groaned as he sat up. "We spent so much time talking yesterday that we didn't even see if I could give anyone an exorcism. We need more money if we're ever going to get to the mountain."

"We'll go into the village as soon as we finish breakfast."

It was then he noticed a delicious smell. When was the last time he'd had a good homecooked meal? Sango was his darling, but she was a worse cook than he was, and that was really quite a feat. There were times he thought the two of them would die of food poisoning in their travels.

Kagome greeted them with a smile and a table set with what appeared to be every breakfast dish under the sun.

"I forgot to ask you last night what you wanted for breakfast, so I just made a few of my favorites. Hopefully you like it."

They barely remembered to say thanks before they dug in. It tasted even better than it smelled. Gods, now he was convinced he was dreaming again.

When he recovered himself, he was able to ask, "Would you mind terribly if I went and performed exorcisms around the village? A monk has few ways of earning coin, and we dearly need the money."

Kagome nodded thoughtfully. "I'll go along with you. Many of the villagers are suspicious of outsiders, and I don't want them to try and scare you off."

"We are forever grateful to you, Kagome," Sango said, her voice full of sincere feeling.

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing, truly."

Somehow, the village looked slightly less pathetic than it had the previous day. A handful of children grouped together and stared at them. Obviously visitors were more interesting than playing games. The men were off in the fields, but their wives peeked out at them from behind the reed mats in their doorways. Miroku felt uncomfortable with their reaction, until he realized no one was looking at him or Sango.

Their wide, fearful eyes were on Kagome.

Kagome led them to the first hut, cheerfully going inside without knocking. A woman sat washing vegetables in the cooking area, perhaps the only female villager not to have been taken up in watching them. Startled, she dropped the clean vegetables in her apron to the dirt floor and went to her knees, bowing until her face touched the ground.

"Praises, Miko-sama! My life and the lives of my family are yours."

"Thank you, Nazuna," she said pleasantly, like the woman had simply given her a regular greeting. Perhaps she had. "My friend the monk here wishes to know if your home needs an exorcism."

She shook her head frantically, her movements so hard and jerky that her hair nearly came loose from its tie.

"No, Miko-sama! We have been thoroughly blessed thanks to your prayers to the god."

"Are you quite sure?" she asked, not looking surprised in the least.

The woman nodded, looking more strained every second that passed by that they were in her home.

"Very well. We'll ask Koharu, then..."

Hut after hut, every answer was the same. Kagome's prayers to the god made them safe. Their lives were full of happiness and they were more secure than any other village in the land.                                                                

Sango and Kagome continued going from hut to hut while he decided that his attentions were best concentrated elsewhere. Something very strange was going on. He'd seen mikos revered as living saints, but this was something else. Peasants only treated the most feared and brutal kings like this.

Crouching down in the dirt, he began to write. The children were a short distance away, whispering together as they collectively openly watched him. It took a few minutes, and he was almost afraid it wouldn't happen before the women were finished, but finally they pushed one of the braver boys to come over to him.

"What are you drawing? Aren't you too old for that?"

The other children snickered.

Practiced at keeping a constant expression of peacefulness on his face, he merely smiled.

"I'm not drawing, I'm writing. These are words."

The other children gathered around. "What does that say?"

"This word is 'bride'."

Predictably, the girls wanted to copy that one while the boys were more interested in learning words like "sword" and "battle". He spent a few minutes with them before he felt confident enough to ask them a question of his own.

"Why is the miko treated with such fear?" he asked, trying to appear like the answer didn't matter.

The older children froze, but the youngest, hardly more than a toddler, just continued playing in the dirt. "Because the miko is the god's chosen."

The children scurried away, dragging the younger one with them. Miroku knew they wouldn't come near him again, no matter what he wrote or tricks he performed.

"Were the children pestering you?"

The monk jumped. He hadn't heard Kagome's approach. Turning around, he made sure to have a broad smile on his face.

"Not at all, my lady. No luck, I take it?"

"I'm so sorry, Miroku and Sango. Like I said, the villagers here are very suspicious of outsiders."

He had a feeling that had she commanded them, they would have paid him all their life's savings for a hundred needless exorcisms each. It was probably for the best, however. A place like this wouldn't have any coin. They would only barter.

"We've been out longer than I thought. By the god, it's hot out. That's unusual for this late in the year. Would you care for some tea back home?"

Sango nodded, looking weary. "Yes, thank you. I'm beginning to question whether always wearing my slaying suit is a good idea. I like being prepared, but..."

The conversation continued between the two women and he lost himself in his thoughts. There was definitely something strange going on. True, all small, isolated communities would appear strange to an outsider for one reason or another, but this was on another level.

When Sango asked him that night in bed if they could stay just a little longer, he agreed.

While she slumbered, he lay awake. It was a very prosperous village despite the size. And Sango had made a friend. Maybe Kagome was hiding some sort of fearsome power, which would explain how the villagers treated her. If so, since they were on friendly terms, or at least Sango was, then maybe she could aid them in hiding from the taijiya. Sango had explained they would be pursued until their deaths were confirmed for having broken the code of the tribe. There was no doubt that they were being hunted.

He would talk to Kagome as soon as she came back from her prayers.

The smell of a delicious breakfast once again filled the air. Miroku started. When had he fallen asleep? He remembered waiting for hours and hours, but he never heard the sound of Kagome entering her home again.

When they saw her, she was as cheery as ever, no signs of fatigue. Perhaps she had fallen asleep at the shrine. But all night? Could a person possibly be so devout?

Miroku always intended to talk to her when she was alone, while Sango was sleeping, but Kagome never came back from praying until it was time to make breakfast.

This was an everyday occurrence.

When he was still working up the courage to ask her one night, there was a loud crash. Miroku jumped to his feet. Had Kagome finally come home? Leaving their room, he found an old man crawling to the door. Rightly assuming he was Kagome's grandfather, he grabbed him under his arms and helped him to his feet.

Despite his frail appearance, the old man fought him wildly with the strength of a man half his age.

"Let go! I cannot stand the evil anymore! Let me go, you bastard accomplice!"

Miroku was so surprised the man could speak that he didn't even register his words at first. Carefully, he carried him the short distance back to his room, laying him in bed. All the fight went out of him after the first few steps, making it almost easy. When he drew the covers over him, the old man grabbed his hand hard enough to hurt.

"We must escape!" he said, his eyes full of the same fear he saw in the villagers, only amplified. "Once the beast is strong enough, it will no longer be possible."

Not knowing what else to do, Miroku merely patted the man's hand as he struggled to withdraw. "It was all a bad dream, grandfather. Go back to sleep."

He clutched the blankets to his chin like a frightened child. "I only hope I die before you fools usher his world of madness in."

Thoroughly disturbed, the monk didn't sleep that night.

For the first time, he was able to meet Kagome as she came in. Looking startled to see him, the miko quickly fixed her smile in place.

"You made tea!" she said, delighted.

"I wanted to talk to you."

The smile faded. "What about?"

He took a sip of his own tea, staring into the cup. "Sango and I aren't just traveling. We're running."

She gasped. "From what?"

He turned over how to say it in his mind. "Her father didn't approve of us, so we eloped. She comes from a clan of strong warriors, and their code demands they pursue us to our deaths. Do you see now why we didn't want to trouble you by staying here?"

Kagome teared up. "That's so romantic! Oh, Miroku, you should have told me immediately. You'll be safe here. The god will make sure of it. They'll never get near you."

She spoke with such conviction that she made him believe.

"I can never thank you enough." Already, he felt lighter, a great burden lifted from his shoulders. "You've done so much for us."

"You two have done a lot for me, too. I value your friendship more than anything but the god's favor." Her smile shone like the sun. "I'll go right back out and tell the villagers to start on your hut at once! Sorry, but breakfast will have to wait a few minutes."

Miroku watched her leave, wondering why he didn't want to tell her about what her grandfather had said.

In less than two days, their hut was built, larger than all but Kagome's own. The miko had made the men work from sunup to sundown, neglecting their fields. The women worked on weaving mats and making clay cups and bowls. Kagome herself donated a large iron cauldron and all essential pickled vegetables and spices. Before they knew it, they had their own home. Their love nest.

Kagome insisted on doing the blessing herself, telling Miroku it would be bad luck for him to bless his own home. He allowed it, too happy and grateful to even think of protesting. Closing her eyes, she clapped her hands once. The villagers backed up even further from her than they already stood. Brow furrowed like she was physically straining herself, she soon began to sweat, her cheeks turning pink with the mental effort. After a couple minutes, she stopped, and swooned on her feet. Sango moved to help support her, but Kagome held up a hand. Panting, she swayed for a moment.

Finally, she turned to them with that same smile she always wore. "The god has heard me. The god told me he will honor my request and protect you two almost as much as he protects me."

Miroku felt like squirming at the intense look in her eyes. Why was everything so wrong in this village? Sango threw her arms around her friend and hugged her tight, nearly lifting the smaller girl up in the air with excitement.

"Kagome, you are the greatest person ever! No one else would do something so kind for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The miko smiled and returned her embrace, laughing. "I'd do anything for you, don't be silly. We're friends! Friends forever."

Life went on.

They never made more friends in the village, being too close with Kagome to do more than share space with the other villagers. It didn't matter much to either of them, both of them accustomed to being loners. All Sango needed was him and Kagome, and all he needed was Sango. After a few brief months of complete bliss, their happiness was magnified when Kagome smilingly confirmed that Sango was pregnant and most likely carrying twins.

It was the first time he saw Sango cry with happiness.

Seeing Kagome look at her barely rounded middle longingly, Sango carefully placed a hand on her friend's.

"Would you ever want to give up being a miko and become a normal woman, Kagome?"

She went completely white. "Never!" The word was expelled loudly, panicky, like someone had overheard her and would not be pleased.

"Forgive me if I offended you. It's just that you're so beautiful! It would be a shame for you to remain unmarried."

A kind of blush he had never seen on her took over her cheeks, her smile soft and glowing. "I do wish I could have children, but my husband will not yet allow it. He always said I'm too young and many things have to happen first, yet lately he's been giving me hope." A quick glance out at the setting sun had her scrambling to her feet. "I'm required to go earlier and earlier to the shrine these days. See you tomorrow!"

The two sat together in silence for a few seconds.

"Miroku, I'm absolutely positive that Kagome believed what she just told us." Concern colored her tone. "The only men in the village are married already. The rest are too young."

That old eerie feeling was back. "Perhaps the strain of being a miko in such a village is too much for a girl like her."

"What do you mean a girl like her?" Suddenly she was glaring at him.

"It's nothing bad, my dear. Like she said, she is very young, and does not seem to have the temperament suited to this lifestyle."

The topic changed to baby names and whether they'd be boys or girls or one of each, and Kagome's strange words were easily dismissed. They liked her, after all, and were more than willing to forget about it. There were other things to worry about.

It wasn't long before the other things found them.

At dawn one morning, he had decided to go fishing. Sango had been craving grilled fish with herbs, and he'd grown up being told that all of a pregnant woman's cravings must be satisfied or it could bring harm to the baby. Even though he as certain that was just superstition, he wasn't willing to risk it. Sango was getting much too big to do the washing, but she came along anyway, wanting to be close to him. She'd gotten much more physically affectionate now that she was pregnant. Before, she'd been almost painfully shy, and while he had loved her then, he was very happy with the change. They couldn't be intimate, however, due to the amount of other villagers who'd had the same idea, all men.

It was shaping up to be a nice day, he thought. Sango was resting on his shoulder, half in a dream, and though he hadn't caught a fish, they had all the time in the world.

The water turned red before his eyes.

Sango sprang into action before he even got to his feet. Her hiraikotsu sat unused in their hut in a spot of honor, lovingly polished every day. They were too far for her to get it. Ever a quick thinker, she grabbed his fishing rod, broke it in half, and stabbed one of her relatives, a formidable taijiya, through the chest while he stared at her, mouth open in awe and a little fright. Even heavily pregnant, the way she fought was almost superhuman. Sure, he'd seen her train before, but she was incredibly more efficient in battle.

Miroku felt helpless.

He knew how to fight. It had been necessary for survival when he was younger. But that was a long time ago, and he had never learned how to kill.

Several villagers were much less fortunate than he and lay dead either in the river or on its banks. A sudden fierce loyalty to the village that had taken them in arose in him and he grabbed a rock that before would have been too large for him to lift without a struggle. Like he was possessed, he struck one of the masked taijiya who was about to attack one of the village men, hitting again and again until he could see his brains splattered on the muddy grass.

The man he had just saved pushed him hard until he fell back straight into the river, hitting his own head on a jagged rock. His vision turned white for second and he wondered how the man could have thought him to be the enemy. Struggling to return to his feet, he watched in horror how the same man tackled Sango to the ground.

"Take your woman! Rape her, kill her, I don't care! Just leave us in peace!"

The remaining taijiya had a cruel gleam in their eyes. All that was human inside them had been shut off and now they were predators. There would be no bargaining, no reasoning.

"Kill me!" Miroku screamed anyway, desperate that no more harm should come to the woman he loved. "I will even live as your slave. Just don't hurt Sango. Exile her here or take her back as your kinswoman, but don't hurt her. Do your worst to me, but leave her be!"

An arrow whizzed by his face close enough that he felt cut by the wind from it.

Arrows flew from behind him, each finding its target in the neck or eye of the enemy taijiya. The blood that bloomed from their wounds was the most beautiful bouquet of roses he'd ever seen. Kagome stood a short distance behind him on the other side of the river, her face like it was made of stone, beautiful and pale and so cold it was menacing. The villager who had betrayed them groaned in fear when he saw her like he had seen his own death.

When she spoke, her voice was almost not her own. "You have earned the wrath of the god, Eiji."

Unlike with the taijiya, the man knew no bargain could be made with Kagome. Looking sick with terror, he ran. Miroku was surprised that the miko allowed it, but the thought quickly left his head when he saw Sango sitting and clutching her abdomen. Heedless of the current, Kagome crossed the river almost as though walking on its surface. Miroku held his wife's hand, neither of them speaking, neither of them wanting to voice their fears. When the miko reached them, she knelt beside Sango and closed her eyes, placing a hand on her stomach. After the slightest of touches, she smiled.

"Don't worry. They are strong girls, like their mother."

That was all Sango needed to hear. Throwing her arms around the younger girl, she sobbed with gratitude, certain her children were safe simply because Kagome had said so. Miroku didn't know when it had happened, but somehow his wife had begun to view the miko as something more than human. Like her word was law.

The next morning, the man who had betrayed them was found in the middle of the village in pieces. His head was on a pike, the fear and pain on his face cemented in eternity. The wife and children he had left behind stared from a distance behind the rest of the village, almost afraid to step closer lest the same fate befall them.

Kagome came out from the woods, no one having heard her approach.

"The god has decreed that he is not to be buried. His remains will be eaten by the beasts and insects. Does anyone wish to question his orders?"

No one said anything.

"Miko-sama, the bodies of the attackers are no longer by the river. Trails of blood lead to the forest. Could they have escaped?"

Kagome laughed. "No one escapes the god!"

This seemed to satisfy the villagers, and soon they left the public space that remained littered with corpse bits. He and Sango were alone with the miko, who soon took her friend's hands in her own.

"My husband says the signs are coming together and soon I will have our first son!" she said in obvious excitement, her face aglow from within.

The two women chattered on while he continued to stare at the forest. Though the people here often spoke about the god, he had seen no shrine, and knew only of the one Kagome claimed to spend every night praying in. It was somewhere in the woods, and there was no way he could find it without a guide. Since the villagers seemed to stay away from that area altogether, he doubted he could talk one of them into showing him.

At first, he had thought Kagome had somehow manipulated the people into thinking she was semi-divine. Maybe a series of coincidences, like the prediction of floods and good harvests, had convinced them of her supernatural abilities. But there was no way she could have wrought that kind of horrible destruction on a man nearly twice her size and age. He was ripped apart as if by a bear but placed by someone with intelligence. If the taijiya had done it, he and Sango would be dead, so they were out. Could the miko have perhaps stumbled upon the man's remains and dragged them back, made a lesson out of it? But that just seemed too remote of a possibility.

The ominous presence he'd sensed from the beginning had become stronger suddenly overnight.

For his wife, for his unborn child, for his future, he had to find out what was going on.

Of late, Sango had been having a more difficult time sleeping, claiming the twins were always more active the minute she settled down. But after the recent excitement, she was exhausted, and went to bed after just a kiss right when the sun was setting. It couldn't have been better timing if he'd planned it.

The rest of the villagers were inside their huts, shades pulled low, done for the day. They would not venture out again until dawn. All this on the orders of their miko. Their mistress.

Kagome left her hut at the same time she always did. He made sure to wait until she had just barely passed the line of trees to really follow her. It had been a long time since he'd had need for stealth, but all his memories from his life as a street urchin and pickpocket came back, and soon he was confident he wasn't going to get caught. If he was, he could always say he too wished to pray to the god in thanks for the defeat of the taijiya.

She came to a sudden halt and he wondered why, but then he saw it. Made of branches and vines twisted together in some kind of craftsmanship he had never seen before, the shrine was like a part of the forest itself. There was no door, just the single open entryway. The inside was completely bare and could hardly fit more than one person comfortably. He stayed outside, far enough away so that he could see everything through the arch.

Setting her lantern on the ground, Kagome began chanting in a language he wasn't familiar with, the cadence also strange and somehow ominous. Though he didn’t understand a word, they made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his stomach twist. Miroku felt a sudden desperation to get away, the terrible presence almost suffocating him, but his curiosity and will to see this through to the end for the safety of all he loved had him rooted to the spot.

At first, he thought it was just his eyes playing tricks on him when shadows began to gather around the kneeling miko, almost flirting with her, tendrils reaching out and touching her cheek, her hair, her lips. Terribly, terrifyingly sentient. The shadows solidified and lightened to reveal an inhuman being of silver and red with cruel gold eyes and vicious fangs and claws. At this point, his mind was not believing what his eyes were seeing. He still wanted to leave, but found his legs no longer possessed the ability, frozen in shock and fright.

Kagome was completely still, her face pressed to the floor.

The evil that the village called a god stared at her, eyes lit with a pleasure that was all too familiar to Miroku. Large clawed hands traveled over the miko's body with a horrible kind of seduction and he disrobed her until she was completely bare and quivering. Slowly, he acquainted himself with every inch of her, from her head to her feet, running his palms over her again and again. Squeezing her ass, he released, repeating the actions until he seemed satisfied. A single clawed finger slipped inside her tight dripping cunt, going all the way in before drawing out and circling her clit.

"You may come."

Immediately, Kagome sobbed out a moan. Miroku realized she was having orgasm after orgasm after orgasm even after such little contact with the creature. He got hard despite himself. After all, she was an exceedingly beautiful woman, and he was only recently reformed. The sounds went on, echoing in the night and his brain.

Sango never made noise when he loved her. Except during the first night, when she had grunted with pain, surprised, but afterward had continued staring stoically at the ceiling. He had tried every trick he knew on her yet nothing seemed to bring her pleasure. It soon became apparent that she wasn't allowing herself to feel good. Never once had he doubted her love for him. No, he understood. Most wives were like her. They were the reason whores existed. Miroku was glad they were far from any kind of whorehouse because the temptation would have been too great. He was capable of a great many evil things, but he swore he would never hurt Sango.

Kagome had recovered from her onslaught of orgasms and threw her arms around the creature like he was a normal man. He received her kisses with a blank face, but his hands held her to him possessively.

"I missed you so much today," she said in a voice barely loud enough for him to hear. "It hurts me to be apart from you. Can I please please _please_ visit you during the day?"

He answered her in a way that revealed they had been over this before. "Not yet, but the time when we can be together always is coming soon."

Her face lit up in joy and she kissed him on the mouth, throwing herself at him with such forceful enthusiasm it would have knocked a human over but didn't seem to faze him in the least. With familiar movements, she undid his scarlet garments until they revealed bronzed skin, leaving his clothes hanging from his muscular toned body. He let her touch him, let her hands explore what they must have explored countless times already. Miroku knew that if he were touched that way, there was no possibility he could remain so still, smirking at the gloriously insatiable naked woman in his lap. The silver-haired man was inhuman on many levels.

Without a warning, he pushed her to the ground, looming over her. The miko showed no fear of his eyes flashing red, his glinting fangs. She only put her hands on his shoulders and spread her legs. His cock was like the rest of him, monstrous. Huge and thick and covered with veins, he didn't tease her, didn't wait, just stabbed inside her with a kind of savagery he had never seen. This wasn't love, not like the way he loved Sango. It wasn't even lust. It was stronger, darker, deeper. She screamed, not in pain, but for more, acting like a whore but infinitely sincere, far more unselfconscious.

"Give me your blood," he growled.

Taking his hand, she brought it to her throat, and clawed her own flesh open.

The monster buried his face into the ragged wound, drinking from the fount of blood that spurted. Roaring, he spilled himself inside her.

Miroku's limbs returned to life and he ran the way he had come, heedless of the noise he was making. He was too afraid to use his mind and too afraid to stay put. He too had become something like an animal, but he was not the alpha predator like the one he had just seen.

To his shame, he was even too afraid to tell his wife why it was he lit the lamp and began to pack their things with hasty, jerky movements. Like he could possibly tell his dear Sango he had just seen her only friend consort with a demon before being murdered by it.

"Miroku, what's going on?" she murmured drowsily, cradling her swollen belly as if to calm the baby and making an annoyed face. Slowly, his fear caught on and she rose to her feet. "Are the taijiya back? Have they killed again?"

A knock on the side of the hut had them both frozen, petrified.

When Miroku saw the sweetly smiling miko let herself in, he almost fainted.

"Forgive me, but I saw your lamp was on and I wondered if you were experiencing pains or had gone into labor."

There were no signs of injury. No blood stained her skin or garments. The two women conversed but he didn't hear a word they said. With how deep that cut had been, she should have bled out in mere minutes and be lying dead on the floor of that profane shrine.

One sentence broke through his foggy brain.

"And my husband says I'm soon to have a child as well! Can you imagine, Sango? Our children will be friends! If I have a boy, they could even grow up to be sweethearts!"

They continued to talk, squealing over the thought of children, while he sat nearly catatonic on the floor, surrounded by a mess of things he considered essential, half of them in their travel packs. Luckily for him, they decided not to have tea and prolong the chat further, and Kagome was soon out of his home. The very second she was gone, he could breathe again, but he couldn't stop, he couldn't stop taking big hiccuping breaths.

Sango held him close and rocked him like he was her baby.

"It was just a nightmare, Miroku. Calm down, it's all right. Everything is fine. I love you..."

After a while, he did calm down, at least externally. Sango went back to bed and was asleep again the moment her head hit the pillow. Unfortunately, he could not do the same. He couldn't even bring himself to go and lay beside her, to take comfort in her familiar warmth and soothing presence, her precious smell and softness. His hands were shaking. There was some leftover sake someone had contributed when their hut had been built, and he drank it straight from the bottle. It helped him think. Plan.

Even though they must, Sango could not flee the village in her condition. A pregnant woman marching through the snow? Not possible. And if they left, there was still the threat of the taijiya. Maybe if they continued to stay in the village with the dark miko, the taijiya would give up or be scared off. Then, as soon as the baby was born and the snow was melted, they could leave. Take off in the middle of the night. It would be difficult convincing Sango, but he was her husband and she had to do as he said.

Even if she didn't believe him.

Who would? The beautiful young miko taking part in some sex-fueled evil blood ceremony with a demon. They would all think him crazy. But he knew what he saw. Even now he could smell their sex and her blood. The evil covered him like mud, a physical filth.

When he finished the bottle, it was daylight. The sun's rays made him begin to doubt himself. Miroku watched Kagome go about her day, sweeping her home and the center of the village, paying visits to each hut, gathering herbs and making her medicines. All normal. Nothing suspicious.

She went to the woods again that night, just like every night.

Making an excuse to Sango that he wished to meditate, he followed the miko.

She chanted the same way and the shadows stealthily harassed her the same way.

This time, the demon appeared before her completely naked. Loosening her clothing until a thin line of flesh was revealed down her middle, showing off her breasts and sometimes giving a rosy hint of nipple, she took his cock in her palm and worshipped. Her full lips pressed kisses to every inch of his hardening length, her tongue not far behind in showing her appreciation. Licking him with just the tip of the muscle, she traced every vein from the bottom to just below the head until it shone with her saliva. Her small hand cradled his balls, gently massaging them. Then, with drooling devotion, she sucked the thick mushroom head into her mouth until her cheeks caved. The demon seemed to really enjoy that and let out a loud groan, slamming his entire cock down her throat. And she just took it all, let him fuck her face without restraint. Enjoyed it, even.

Taking every thrust without complaint, she stuck her hand down her pants and began to rub herself. Her face was red from lack of air, but she continued to suck him as best as she could, taking him down her slender throat until her face was pressed into his muscled flesh, his black pubic hair that matched his brows obscuring her features. The demon held her there for a second, just paused while her throat closed down on him, choking. Just when Miroku began to think that he was going to kill her again by suffocating her, he withdrew, giant member dripping precum and spit.

In a flash, he tore her pants from her and slammed her down on his lap. It was dizzying for Miroku to watch the quick movement, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a participant. But Kagome showed no signs of being disoriented, she just cried out in a kind of surprised delight as he forced her to ride him, holding up her breasts for him to tease with his hideously long tongue, lapping at the hard buds. Kagome began to chant again, the muscles in her stomach illustrating how close she was to releasing. This time, while he still couldn't understand the words or even recognize the language she spoke, he understood the essence. Somehow.

_I give you my body, you take my soul..._

Having given no sign he was about to do so, the demon ripped into her shoulder with his fangs, tearing away her flesh until the bone was visible. She collapsed in his arms, limp, and he lowered her back to the ground, hovering over her and continuing to pound away, drinking all the blood that came forth.

Miroku ran away again, this time in shame rather than overwhelming fear. He ran until he came to the river, where he plunged into the cold depths in punishment, washing the semen away with the current. Hanging up his robes to dry himself so as not to bother Sango, he lay beside her naked, kissing her shoulder in apology. She didn't even stir.

The next time he tried to follow her, he couldn't.

The oppressive dark evil that had been growing steadily stronger had formed a sort of barrier at the entrance to the forest. Kagome passed by like she didn't even feel it, but it hit him like a punch to the gut and he fell to his knees at the line of trees, trying to gasp for breath but finding none.

The next morning, Kagome called each hut to the center of the village, theirs the first. Gathering everyone around her, she smiled at each and every one of them individually, meeting their eyes. He supposed it comforted some, but it only made him nervous. Did she know what he had seen? What was her game?

"The taijiya attacking the village have all been killed. The god has kept his promise. The god has protected his people."

The villagers murmured gratitude and thanks, but it was muted, with no talk of celebration. Almost like they wished the taijiya had come and slaughtered them all.

Kagome continued, "The god has commanded that I sequester myself in the shrine for the next seven days and seven nights in thanksgiving." Her face glowed with happiness. She was finally getting her wish. "Miroku, you are the only man without a role yet in the village. I apologize for not having seen to it earlier, but I will ask the god during the thanksgiving. While I'm in the shrine, it would mean everything to me if you would look after my grandfather. He's very ill and doesn't have much time left, and all he needs is his medicine and meals."

Miroku wanted to refuse. Wanted to reveal her sins in front of everyone. But then he remembered that the old man knew something. Her grandfather had tried to warn them. Maybe he knew something else. Maybe he could help.

"Sure. Anything."

She smiled and gave them all a wave, giving Sango a special look, like a bride about to go to her husband for the first time, nervous but mostly excited, secure and bathed in love, walking in a dream.

Though the girl seemed anxious to get away, Sango grabbed both her hands, squeezing tight, before drawing her into a bear hug, a difficult thing to accomplish when she was so far along in her pregnancy. She whispered something he couldn't hear, but the look of aching gratitude on her face making him absolutely sick. Kagome's face softened like she was about to cry happy tears, but all she did was whisper something back and smooth her hair, giving them all a wave before turning back and going to the forest. To her real home.

After walking Sango home and making sure she'd only come get him if it was an emergency, he entered Kagome's hut for the first time in months. It was exactly the same. Flowers she had collected while being distracted during her herb gathering were left everywhere, brightening the hut in the various stages of decay. A big pot of soup sat in the center, enough to feed her grandfather for twice as long as needed. Miroku breathed a sigh of relief. It was almost as though he expected to see the place changed, that now with the knowledge he possessed there would be human bones stacked around a sacrificial altar as her décor. Figuring he might as well get the conversation started, he filled up one of the finer bowls with soup. He didn't bother pouring out some medicine. He suspected it was something else, something not meant to heal but rather to hasten death.

The old man lay in bed, covered in thick layers of blankets, eyes open and staring at the ceiling. Kneeling beside him, Miroku carefully spooned some of the vegetable broth, offering it to the silent man. He refused, turning his head to the side. Sighing, he set the bowl on the ground, figuring there would be time for it later. Other matters were more important.

"Do you remember me?" he asked as gently as he could, not letting his urgency show, not wanting to scare him off.

He closed his eyes.

"I followed her," Miroku blurted out. "Out in the woods. I saw her with that thing."

The old man turned sharply, eyes blazing with something strong. Life.

"I'm afraid for my wife and our unborn child. Please, please tell me what's going on! I'll believe you. Anything you say, I'll believe it. I know you're not crazy."

He sighed, and the sound rattled in his throat. "There's sake under the bed. Pour me a cup."

Miroku ended up pouring him three cups before the man was ready to talk.

"Years and years ago, there was a famine. It was like nothing we'd ever seen before. Hardly anything grew, and what did grow was often riddled with disease and could not be consumed without great risk to oneself. Many people died. My son, my only son. His wife and young boy died, too. The village was once three times the size it is now. Soon, it was just Kagome and I and a few other huts.

"I was mad in my grief and starving as well. That is not an excuse, that is the truth." His eyes blazed as though Miroku had challenged his statement. "I was one of the elders, and we all met with Kaede, the true miko of the village, to discuss what we should do. We had few options. Migration to places that would most likely not welcome us, where many would die along the way. Asking the far-off lord for aid.

"I don't remember who it was that said it or if anyone even suggested it and it was somehow planted in our minds, but soon we were reminded of an ancient tradition that had been banned since the time of my grandparents' grandparents.

"We decided to sacrifice a virgin girl to the Inuyasha forest.

"Our ancestors believed that the forest was alive. That it had a consciousness, a soul. That it was evil. Vengeful for things long forgotten by man. Sometimes he would lash out at the villagers who ventured too close to the trees, hating them. It didn't seem impossible that the spirit of the forest was causing the famine. As our ancestors said, an offering of a virgin girl who was old enough to have her month blood was the only way to appease his wrath. He would sate himself with her flesh and leave us alone.

"Kagome was the only one in the village still alive who fit all the requirements. She had been apprenticed to Kaede, and I expected the woman to speak up for her, but she merely said we must do what we can for all. She was my only family left, and I should have said something, but I only wanted peace again. It fell to me to take her to the woods. She was excited, I remember that. Since her family had died, she hadn't said a word and looked like a corpse herself, but this brought some color back to her cheeks. Her parents always forbade her from venturing near the forest, and she always wanted to pick the flowers there. Said they didn't grow anywhere else. I told her not to come back until she had enough mushrooms for the entire village or she would be punished, told her they grew in the very middle, in the darkest part. I knew the forest would take her before she got too far.

"The next morning, bandits fought each other on the road leading to the village. We feared they would come and ransack us, finish us off when they found we had nothing to give. But they all died. Each and every one of them. They all killed each other. It took some hours for a few to die, but when they finally did, we searched the bodies and found a fortune. Gold jewelry and coins, pearls, silver. Before we could even discuss what to do with it, a merchant passed by with a caravan of meats and vegetables and seeds, fine wines and rice, too. He had gotten lost on his first trip to the capital.

"Does that sound plausible to you? No one ever comes this way, and so close together?

"I didn't regret sending Kagome into the forest. It saved our people. Of course, I continued to mourn my son and his family, but Kagome was a necessary martyr. We celebrated and feasted for days. It was a happy time. We didn't talk about what we had done. None of the villagers asked where she was. They all knew. But none of the stories our ancestors passed down ever mentioned the sacrifice coming back...

"A week later, she showed up at my door, looking happy and healthy, even better than she had before the famine. Her eyes were bright and she seemed more mature. I was too shocked to do anything. I feared she was an evil spirit come to punish me, but she just took me by the hand and asked, no _told_ , me to gather the elders and the other villagers. She had changed. Her presence had power now.

"Everyone rushed to hear what she had to say. I heard some whisper fearfully that we should send her back, maybe break her limbs and send her back so she couldn't show up again. They were afraid. There is no doubt in my mind that she heard all of it even though she was too distant for that to be possible. She looked each and every one of us in the face like she knew all our sins and she was there both to judge and punish.

"Kagome told us that the forest was not evil like we had been told, but a god. He had punished his people for their misdeeds and their unjust hatred of him, but she had pleaded our case and now he took pity on us. The god chose her as his go-between, his mouthpiece.

"What do you think we did? We laughed. Well, they laughed. I was mortified. Like everyone else, I thought she had gone mad from trying to survive on her own in the forest for a week. The headman actually did approach me and order me to take her back and make sure she stayed there, but I wasn't going to do that a second time. To tell you the truth, even though I didn't believe her, I was afraid of her. Even if her story wasn't real, the change in her was.

"By the next morning, all the other elders and the headman and Kaede were dead. Torn apart like by an animal.

"Kagome smiled when she told us the god would not tolerate any mistreatment of his mouthpiece.

"People left in the middle of the night. Or they tried to. They were never heard from again, and some said their tracks disappeared just before they could leave the village. Kagome took to calling herself a miko and things became the way they are now." His face darkened. "I followed her, too. Once. I felt the change in the village air when she came back. I needed to know the truth. I went to that shed abandoned by the all the gods and I saw her fornicating with that creature of hell, taking her from behind like they were beasts. The things they did I try my best to forget every day. It may not seem like the creature noticed you, but make no mistake, he did. The creature took the use of my legs the next morning and Kagome began telling everyone I was senile. They know it's not true, but no one questions her."

Miroku couldn't speak for a few moments. "How long has this been going on? How long have you all been trapped here?"

His eyes were haunted. "Ten years. Kagome has stayed the same age, unlike the rest of us." Suddenly, he grabbed his wrist, making the monk instinctively want to pull away. "You must leave. While she and the creature distract each other is your best chance. Leave and don't stop until you are off the mountain! Go now, before harm can befall your home."

He patted his hand and disengaged himself. "We're fine for now, old man. I have to wait until my wife has birthed our child to travel. Nothing has happened to me and I saw them directly, so I think I can wait a little longer."

Weariness fell like a shade over the man's face. "No. Not to you. Nothing has happened to you."

Miroku left the room, keeping the tray with the bowl of soup on it behind just in case Kagome's grandfather regained an appetite soon.

The next morning, the man was dead.

There was a change in the aura of the village. The evil aura was still there, but lighter somehow, not as oppressive. Even so, it was even more frightening when he realized that it had merely spread out, covering more ground.

"Miroku, you must go and bring Kagome back! Her only family is dead. The poor girl will be inconsolable." Sango looked to be in distress herself at the mere thought of her precious friend suffering at all.

He sighed. How he wished he could tell her everything.

Could he?

"Tonight," he said. "You and I will go together tonight." He'd sneak just as he had before, making sure Sango did the same. They wouldn't be caught, and if they were, he would hide her and make sure only he suffered consequences. But then she would know her friend was not who she thought she was, and perhaps then she would be more cautious, and leaving would be easier after the birth.

Sango grumbled the entire way that night. So much for secrecy. Miroku was both relieved and scared when they made it to the tiny structure. For some reason, he had felt compelled to bring Sango, even though just a day earlier the thought would have made him sweat with fear. But now he wanted her to know, he _needed_ her to know the terrible thing her friend was. It was a little later than the times he had gone before thanks to Sango moving so slow, her due date so near.

They heard them rutting before they saw them.

Kagome was in the demon's lap, her back to him as she rode him with abandon. Out of place was her newly rounded stomach, evidence of the life she was to unleash on the world. Her full breasts bounced wickedly, hypnotizing him. A small, secret part of him hoped Sango would try to emulate her some in this one respect. After just a scant minute, when Kagome's shrieks were reaching their shrill peak, he grabbed his wife by the hand and dragged her away, not stopping until they had left the forest and were back in their hut.

He could feel his eyes wild and crazed and he grabbed her by the upper arms, just barely restraining himself from hurting her in his anxiousness. "Did you see!? T-the monster... Her and that _thing_ —"

It was no effort to pull away from him. Sango looked pissed, but not scared. "Did I _see_?" she hissed. "I saw confirmation that I am a terrible friend! Gods, Miroku, Kagome really does have a lover. Of course she can't claim him publicly as her husband what with her position, but she's not crazy and she's not making up stories. And did you see her stomach? She looks nearly due! Her robes really hide a lot." She crossed her arms and went to her chest of clothes and supplies. "I'm going to have to hurry up and make some booties for her, too. And a blanket!"

Miroku was dumbfounded. Was Sango in denial? Kagome hadn't been even remotely pregnant just a couple days ago. And what of her inhuman partner and the evil that choked the air? Belatedly, he remembered that his wife did not possess spiritual powers. Also, in his haste he had not showed her the grand finale of Kagome's murder and subsequent resurrection. And perhaps the angle of the rutting obscured the most obvious of the demon's features.

Sango's continuous angry rant broke into his thoughts. "...And I can't believe you've been peeping on Kagome and her lover! You're just asking for the gods to curse you, Miroku."

Those words would be stuck in his memory for all time.

Three weeks after Kagome returned from her time of thanksgiving, Sango birthed stillborn twin girls. The miko assisted, doing all the work herself, not allowing him anywhere near the hut since it would only make Sango more anxious. It took everything in him to restrain himself from finally putting an end to the evil whore he blamed for the death of his children, but the way Sango clung to her stayed his hand. Even after everything, she was still her only friend. She needed her right now. Kagome cried with Sango and held the babies wrapped in blankets the two of them had made.

"I don't understand why, Sango!" she sobbed. "They were so healthy. So perfect. It makes no sense! I will ask the god tonight."

At that, Miroku left and got very, very drunk.

He didn't put down the bottle until Kagome began her trek to the shrine. Not bothering to be stealthy, it wasn't long before she stopped and allowed him to catch up to her, concern on her face.

"Is Sango still in pain?" she asked, her voice soft and sympathetic. "I thought I gave her enough herbs to make her sleep, but—"

"I know what you do in that shrine."

The dark miko's face went white, even her lips. She looked like she was about to faint.

"I saw you. You and your demon. I could have lived my life happily and forgot about your evil but then you hurt her!" His throat became tight, burned. "You hurt Sango. You killed our children."

She must have tried to say something, but he would never hear her words. The knife he'd hidden in his sleeve and sharpened all day cut her throat open perfectly, and she only stared at him, her eyes uncomprehending like a child's, wondering why. She swayed on her feet and he grabbed her by the hair, dragging her behind him as she bled out. The shrine was only a short distance away, and he threw her inside. The whore was still alive, but only just. Pouring the rest of his sake on her and the tightly wound together branches that made up the walls, he lit the match and threw it. Miroku waited only just long enough to make sure it was all burning. He didn't care if it burned the whole forest down. All he wanted to do was sleep through the night for the first time in months.

The hut smelled strongly of herbs. The bodies of their children were in Kagome's hut, where she had been preparing them for burial. But he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about anything. He decided to be grateful for what he had. As he saw Sango's sleeping face, wet with tears and creased with pain both physical and emotional, love like he had never known it before pierced his heart and brought him to his knees. Even after everything, he was the luckiest man in the world. Kissing his wife's forehead, he was asleep the moment his head hit the cushion, feeling emptied and peaceful.

He awoke to the sound of women laughing.

Bleary-eyed, he looked around the room. Sango wasn't beside him. Pulling on his robes, he went to the main room and stopped while still in the doorway.

Kagome was laughing and cheerfully cooking breakfast.

Sango was saying something to her and knitting a baby blanket. For a minute, he wondered if he had dreamed it all. The stillbirths, the burning. Was he going crazy?

"I didn’t get the chance to thank you for yesterday, Miroku," the miko said, handing him a plate of food. "You made my husband very happy!"

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say.

Kagome left.

That night, she didn't go to pray at the shrine. Still wondering if he was crazy, he watched her through her windows. Humming merrily, she caressed her swollen stomach.

"Come in, Miroku!" she said without turning around. "My husband wishes to speak with you."

Whether he was crazy or not, it all had to do with Kagome, and so he obeyed.

Just as they had in the shrine, shadows oozed from the corners of the room and materialized into the demon. His scarlet clothes were ancient in design but looked new and of expensive quality. The way he crossed his arms and looked down his nose at him made Miroku feel like a peasant before a lord.

"You want the story, don't you, priest?"

"I am a monk." He really must be crazy if he was correcting a demon.

The demon sneered. "To make it short, a bitch miko from this village cursed me. I wasn't able to leave that prison in the forest. Only when a sacrifice wandered in could I even take form. It was an eternity of gnawing hunger.

"And then I met Kagome.

"She was starving, but she gave me all the mushrooms she'd gathered. When I wanted more, I took her body. I intended to do with her like I did to the others, but something about the bones of her face, how soft her skin was, how she smelled, made me stop at taking her purity. I was a little rough and she ended up dead anyway." He looked at her apologetically and she put a hand on his, urging him on, forgiving him all over again. Miroku wanted to laugh at the domesticity of it all.

"I didn't even think about it. I just did it. I brought her back. All I had to do was want it. Her virgin miko blood had given me powers, unthinkable powers I had never even dreamed of before. Her blood allowed me to take form whenever I wanted. When I got enough of it, I could even leave the prison, but I could only stay within the village, and then only at night. I craved it, craved her blood. She was the one who made me a god. And she is my consort, my priestess, my wife."

"Why am I here?" he asked wearily. Now he knew it was no accident he and Sango had ended up at this village. How long had this demon that called itself a god been pulling strings, manipulating events?

He smiled. "I knew it would take a holy man with great powers but little training to free me. Anyone with real training would have immediately sensed that the sealed building should stay intact and wouldn't come anywhere near it. You have a very important job still, Miroku."

Kagome grabbed his hand suddenly. "It's time," she said through clenched teeth, obviously in pain.

A focused look on his face, the demon undid Kagome's robes. At first, Miroku thought they were going to perform their unholy ritual in front of him, and was somewhat disappointed when they did not. Taking a single claw, the demon slit Kagome down the middle of her belly. Reaching inside, he pulled out a bloody sac. It pulsed, and tiny arms and legs pushed against it. The sight of it made Miroku sick. The demon broke it open and the tiny things inside filled the room with a terrible howling, blinking the blood and fluid out of their eyes.

"They're beautiful," Kagome cooed with her last breath.

The demon ran his hand over her and suddenly she was whole and slim again, asleep but alive.

"I'm going to establish a kingdom here," he said like he was discussing the weather. "It will last for millennia and more. No one can stop me. Not even the gods, let alone one holy man. Do you want to live?"

Miroku nodded. What else could he have done?

The demon snorted. "I can tell you're going to make a fine soldier with how you follow orders so easily. How about we work out payment now?" He grinned and his fangs glinted in the lamplight. "Those babies in the backroom have spirits that still linger. Your wife already agreed. But what about you? A family or your soul?"

He'd had a soul his entire life, but he'd never had a family. Just when he thought he was going to get one, it was destroyed. The answer was easy.

"Yes, my king."


	4. Once Upon a Dream

**_Tragedy strikes and Kagome goes to live in a different town, healing her heart in a house left to her by a relative she never knew. Strange dreams begin to infect her nights and she discovers that there might be more to her inheritance than she thought._ **

**IV: Once Upon a Dream...**

On the way home from the funeral, Kagome was wondering how she could bear living all alone in the shrine. After the car accident, things like that had been the last thing on her mind. At first, she'd been full of hope. People in critical condition could recover, right? There were tons of miracle stories out there, flooding the world. But one by one, they died. First Mama. While heartbreaking, it wasn't a very big surprise. The steering wheel had gone through her chest. It was a miracle she survived even that long. Then Sōta a few hours later, almost like he knew. Finally, Jii-chan passed two days later, a fighter to the end.

Everyone they knew came to the funeral and she couldn't help but feel that they all thought she should be in a casket, too. If it hadn't been for the meeting with her academic advisor going overtime, then she would be. But she'd told them to go on to the movies without her since she was running late and it was raining hard and she needed to study anyway.

Kagome didn't break down until about halfway up the shrine steps. The funerals had been performed at the mortuary, and right now they were being cremated, where they would be poured into individual urns and sent back to the shrine for her to bury alone. She started gasping and sobbing before the tears came, running up the steps as though trying to run away from the death that seemed to be after her. The funeral was the easy part. The hard part would be going through their things, deciding what to give away, looking at the empty rooms every single day, hearing the phantom footsteps echo in her head and forgetting for just a split second that she was all alone in the world now.

She didn't remember entering the house. She didn't remember curling up on the floor in the foyer. By the time she could think again, it was almost midnight. Her high heeled shoes were hurting and her dress was itching her. Toeing off the shoes, she unzipped the dress and began to remove her stockings. Sticking to the sheer black silk was a letter. Confused, she picked up the crumpled envelope. Condolences, perhaps? But everyone who knew them had been there.

It was addressed just to her in an old-fashioned script that she at first thought was printed, but on further examination revealed it was handwritten. The return address didn't have a name, but it was somewhere by the sea. That sounded nice.

_Kagome Higurashi,_

_When you read this letter, I will have already left this world. Upon my death, it has been decided that you are to inherit everything I have come to own. We have never met in this life nor do I think we ever will in the ones to come, but this is what must be._

_Be Aware,_

_Kikyo Higurashi_

The letter had dried her tears. It wasn't exactly consoling, just confusing. Kikyo Higurashi? Did Jii-chan have a sister? And what a strange woman she was. Included with the letter was a deed to a house, which was understandable, but what made less sense was the picture of a dog. It looked to have been taken recently, and the dog seemed like it had posed, its silvery-white fur glinting in the sunlight that matched its eyes, the foliage behind him dark and mysterious. On the back was written "Inuyasha" in the same handwriting as before, if a little shakier.

Kagome leaned against the door. There was no way she'd be able to handle going back to school right now. And it felt equally impossible for her to start ransacking the home, violating the private space of her departed loved ones. What else could she do other than to check out if what was in the letter was legitimate?

Early the next morning, she headed out with her luggage, just the things she couldn't live without. After all, she'd be coming back to the shrine soon. Once she had healed. Maybe in a couple weeks, maybe a couple months. Leaving a key and a note in a trusted neighbor's mailbox, she caught the first train to the little seaside town. It was a long ride, and even though she hadn't slept the night before, she didn't even doze off once. Kagome kept herself occupied by reading, but when she finished she realized she hadn't a single clue as to what the book was about.

The taxi was cheaper than the ones back home, which was nice since she didn't have any money until the legal stuff was done and she inherited what had been in her mother's and grandfather's accounts. Maybe even Kikyo's, too. The thought didn't make her feel better at all. Even the sight of the house did nothing to perk her up. It was old and looked almost like a palace. Surrounded by land, there were no other homes nearby, and the sea was just a short walk away.

Declining the offer of help from the driver, she walked up to the door herself. It opened before she could even knock.

"Hello!" the old woman greeted warmly. She tried not to stare at her eyepatch. "You must be Kagome."

Before she could answer, a dog came rushing at the door, barking angrily when it saw her. The old woman bopped it on the nose.

"Sorry about that. You just look so much like Kikyo did when she was younger that it upset him. Maybe you even smell like her."

Kagome laughed uneasily and followed her into the house. Was that supposed to be a joke? Hadn't Kikyo been old when she died? The dog looked to be very young. And why would her bearing a resemblance to his former owner upset him?

"I'm Kaede, by the way," she said, busying herself about the kitchen with familiarity. "Sorry for the late introduction. Honey or sugar?"

She realized that she was being offered tea. "Um, honey. Thanks."

She brought the mugs over and sat down at the circular table, gesturing for her to sit.

"Your great-great-aunt Kikyo was a wonderful woman. I've admired her since I was a child." She smiled at her and stared in a way that made Kagome uncomfortable. "You really do look exactly like her. She knew what she was doing." Sighing, she took a sip. "Kikyo was a great adventurer. She traveled all over this world, and many others, too."

Kagome merely smiled tightly and avoided drinking the tea, feeding the stale biscuits to the dog that had taken up residence under the table. This old woman was insane.

"And how did she pass?" Since she was her great- _great_ -aunt, she must have been ancient and died in her sleep or something, the kind of death she'd thought her family would have had.

Kaede shook her head sadly. "The strangest thing. She was out walking the grounds when an animal attacked her. It may have been a leopard, though we haven't had problems with them around here in decades. Inuyasha here led some tourists to the body, and that was days after she had gone missing. It was awful."

Kagome remembered seeing the carnage that had once been her loved ones and felt like vomiting.

The old woman continued, "That was months ago. I didn't even know Kikyo had any family but one day last week I came in to clean and Inuyasha knocked over a stack of files in her office and I found that letter. But where is the rest of your family, dear?"

She smiled so big she was sure it didn't look like a smile. "Oh, they couldn't make it."

Kaede stared at her for a second before nodding. "Well, I better let you get settled in. My number's on the fridge if you need anything. I'm used to coming by once a week to clean and chat."

The minute she left, Kagome began to explore the house. Most of the room were crammed with stuff. Great-great-aunt Kikyo had definitely been a hoarder. Most of the things were papers, but there were some cool stuff, too. Figurines and paintings from all over the world. An entire wall covered in artfully decorated solid silver spoons, all obvious antiques. Books and books and books everywhere she turned. A wardrobe full of clothes in wonderful condition despite their age. Most appeared not to have been worn in decades, dust settling on the shoulders. They all looked to be her size, too.

Collapsing facedown on the massive bed in the master bedroom, Kagome knew she had come to the right place.

The dog, Inuyasha, she remembered, jumped up beside her. He stayed a distance from her, eyeing her warily. Rolling over to him, she hugged him to her. It was nice to feel something warm.

"I thought I was a cat person, but your fur is so soft," she murmured. For some reason, she didn't feel ridiculous talking to the dog. "You and I are going to be good friends. Thanks for saving me from Kaede's stale biscuits. Sorry for being rude and ignoring you earlier. My cat died last year and I never thought I'd add another pet to the family." She paused, staring into eyes that made her feel like he understood. "Now that I think about it, you're the only family I have in the world, Inuyasha." The tears started and she tried to smile, but it was a shaky failure. "Unless any living great-great-aunts I've never met want to send me a letter."

She cried into his fur all night with him occasionally licking the tears from her face. Without meaning to or even noticing, she fell asleep like that.

Kagome knew from the start that she was dreaming.

A beautiful man with shimmering long silver-white hair and golden eyes was leaning over her on the bed she'd just passed out on. Were those dog ears on his head? Completely naked, he pressed his body into her, lying on top of her, smothering her with his hot weight. Something warm and wet danced along the side of her neck and she whimpered at that touch of his tongue. His lips followed, sucking. Kagome almost felt drugged. Even in her nightmares she'd never been so powerless.

The man's mouth covered hers and he kissed her like a beast, savagely and without a care for her own pleasure, which only made her wet. She wanted to cling to him, but her arms were too tired, so heavy. It was all she could do to weakly return his kiss, the passion roaring within her outwardly expressed as a mere shadow of the truth. Her eyes watched his hands, widening slightly when she noticed his claws, how sharp they were, how dangerous they were. Gently, he dragged them down her chest, still hard enough to leave small pink lines in their wake. He stopped just between her breasts. There was male pride on his face as he stared at her puckered nipples. But when had her clothes come off? Who cared, it was just a dream. Anything could happen in a dream.

Grabbing her nipples between the knuckles of his first and second fingers on each hand, he tugged the buds, squeezing them. Her back arched, following, the most she had moved since the dream started. He released her and pushed her down to the bed again, his palm over her breast. When she was laying prone again, he kept his hand in place, squeezing, feeling her. Kagome wanted to say something, but words were beyond her. She just couldn't remember how talking worked...

Clawed thumbs caressed and pinched her nipples in turn. The man's tongue lolled out and it was the longest she'd ever seen. The tip of it circled her right areola and she would have given anything to have him stop teasing her and start fucking her right that instant. Finally, his mouth descended on her and her lips parted in a moan as he sucked hard, nibbling her just right before biting down hard enough to bruise but not wound. Like he knew she secretly liked it rough and wanted her to acknowledge it outside of her own deepest thoughts for the first time. When his fangs brushed against her diamond hard nipple, she shuddered and nearly came right then and there.

Her hips couldn't help but to buck straight up when he stuck two fingers inside her without any kind of warning. True, she was so wet that she didn't need to be prepared much, but the surprise of it still made her ache a little. But the ache was a sexy kind of ache and she squeezed down on him, wanting more. He scissored his fingers inside of her, pumping them maddeningly slowly. She was so wet she could feel her juices dripping outside of her and running down her ass and onto the bed. She could hear the vulgar sounds his finger-fucking produced. Gods above, if he came anywhere near her spot she was going to—

When he withdrew, she would have screamed, but then he left her nipple with an audible pop and guided himself inside her. Kagome came with the first thrust. It was like nothing she ever felt before. Every inch of her body was pulsing, twitching. She couldn't think, couldn't see anything but blinding light and then blackness. She couldn't even breathe. His mouth covered hers again and she stole the air from it and then they pulled apart, her gasping. That male pride on his face was magnified a thousand million times and he thrust again, harder than the first, watching her with a merciless smirk as she convulsed again, though slightly more subdued than before.

The man leaned down and ran his tongue along the shell of her ear.

"If that didn't make it clear," he said, voice husky and molten and turning her on even more, "you're _my_ pet."

Unsure of where she got the strength, Kagome returned the favor and sucked the tip of his lightly furred ear into her mouth. He shuddered and began to move atop her furiously. It was impossible for her to keep track of how many times she came. The entire thing was just one long stream of pleasure, to the point of hurting. He was gigantic inside of her and she couldn't comprehend how he had managed to fit without tearing her. Biting her lip and quivering around him when he again brushed against her g-spot, she wished with everything inside her that this was actually happening.

Then maybe she would want to live again.

At that thought, he released a hot torrent of cum inside her, and she woke up.

The sun was not yet up. Groggily, she looked at the clock on the nightstand. Had she really dreamt all that in just a couple hours? With a groan, she took her hand from beneath her skirt. Kagome almost laughed. The best sex of her life had come from good ole Rosy Palm and her five sisters. Moving to wipe it off on the sheets, she was intercepted by Inuyasha, whom she had not realized had stayed on the bed with her. The dog licked her entire hand clean before she could stop him, and she stared at him open-mouthed. He continued to lick at his chops like it was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. She tried to ignore how the place between her legs had reacted at the almost familiar feeling of that tongue on her skin. Gods, but she was sick in the head.

Kagome became even more worried for her mental health when the dream returned the next night, and the next, and the next, and so on. It was always different, but the man was the same and there was always wickedly hot sex. Sometimes he took her from behind, sometimes she was on top, sometimes he fucked her face (even though she'd never been able to deep throat before in her waking life), and sometimes he went down on her until the orgasms were more like torture than anything pleasurable.

It became so maddening that she even brought it up to Kaede when she came to clean one morning. Apparently, Kikyo had set aside a nice amount of money for her and to express her gratitude she continued to clean the house as she had for the past thirty years. Kagome didn't really mind. Sometimes it was nice to talk to an actual person rather than a dog. Of course, she kept the details of her dream quiet, though her flaming blush probably gave it all away.

Kaede dropped the tea pot.

Thankfully, it was empty and so neither they nor Inuyasha were scalded, though the broken mess was pretty sizeable.

"Have you thought about dating?" she asked in a voice rather higher than her own normally was. "It must be lonely here all by yourself."

Kagome squirmed uncomfortably, welcoming the warm comfort of Inuyasha's head on her knee. Even he was staring at her, waiting for a response. In truth, she didn't feel right going about her life like she hadn't just lost everyone she loved. There were so many things that had broken inside her that she knew she hadn't even begun to identify them. To add to that, the last time she had dated was ages ago, back in high school. Hojo had been nice, but that was about it. Not wanting to leave high school a virgin, she'd pressured him into intimacy before he was ready, and things were never the same after that. They'd dated until graduation, when she broke it off and never looked back.

"I'll think about it."

After Kaede left, she curled up on the couch with a few of Kikyo's photo albums she'd found in one of the many boxes full of junk that littered the house. The particular one she was currently looking through was full of polaroids from over half a century ago, when her great-great-aunt had been around her age. She was amazed at the resemblance. Aside from how Kikyo's hair was much longer and pin straight, they could have been twins. Since the pictures weren't in color, she couldn't tell whether they shared the same clear gray eyes that ran on her father's side of the family.

As she turned the pages, Kikyo began to appear with a dog by her side. Always the same dog with the tag that said "Inuyasha", exactly like the one the canine beside her wore around his neck. In every single album, it was the same. Even when Kikyo began to age, year after year, decade after decade, the dog stayed the same. It was a little creepy. Kagome supposed she could have just kept getting the same kind of dog, but it was still sort of eerie how it was always the same age. Maybe she bred them? But Kaede would have mentioned something like that. It felt like she'd learned every single detail of Kikyo's life through the old woman's tea and story sessions.

A long time passed before she felt able to go about the normal routine of being a person again. Kagome felt like if she had one more bite of take out, she'd explode in a blast of bloody grease. The closest grocery store was a little more expensive than ones she normally frequented, but she guessed she could afford the few extra dollars now. The thought of what that financial comfort had cost made her ache. Pushing away the bad feelings, she grabbed a cart and rolled forward.

She hated unfamiliar places. Navigating something that had the appearance of being familiar but was entirely different was just annoying. Kagome missed the store across from the shrine, where she could browse the aisles with her eyes closed and knew all the clerks. Almost groaning aloud when she saw how high up the sundried tomatoes were, she reached for the jar with a little hop. The jar swayed and fell off the shelf. She missed catching it completely and watched in dread as it fell to the ground. Thankfully, it didn't break but just rolled all the way down the aisle until a man bent over to pick it up.

"Sorry, thanks," she said in a rush, jogging over awkwardly.

His uniform vest revealed that he worked there. "You look familiar," he said with a smile, not handing her the jar back immediately.

It irked her. "Really?" She knew his type. "I'm not from here."

"So you're new to town?"

Kagome nodded and started back to her cart.

"If you have time on Saturday, I can show you around. We can meet at Benji's, it's the best bar in town. Wait, how old are you?"

Now she'd lost the mental list of things she wanted to buy. Sighing, she looked him up and down. He was cute. He was eager. His job wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't like this was going to lead to anything anyway. And maybe she'd change her mind by the time Saturday rolled around. Then she'd have an excuse to go to a cheaper store further away.

"Sure. What time?"

His face showed his shock, but he quickly recovered. "How about ten? My name's Kōga."

"I'm Kagome." Her new smile, the smile that wasn't anything more than showing her teeth, stretched across her face. It didn't seem to bother him. She doubted he noticed.

"Cool. Okay. Cool."

"See ya."

She escaped and went through the store just throwing things in the cart, no meal plans in her head, just getting whatever caught her eye. When she left the store, she realized she didn't buy any dog food. Did it even matter? There hadn't been any in the house, and she'd checked every hoarder-packed corner. There had been plenty of steak in the freezer and she'd been giving him that. It looked like in her haze she had purchased several different kinds of beef. She'd just keep on feeding him like a king. Lucky dog.

By the time she had everything put away, she was exhausted. For the first time in her life a simple outing had drained her. Before, she had slept no more than six hours a night and never needed coffee, working and going to school and spending time with friends and her family and still having trouble going to sleep. So much had changed. Flopping down on the couch, she scratched Inuyasha behind the ears when he came padding up to her.

Before too long, she fell into a light doze. While still feeling the couch underneath her, she saw in the distance a pretty meadow, full of different-colored flowers. A weeping willow overlooked a pond. There wasn't a single other person in sight, but she could feel someone next to her, though she couldn't turn her head to look at them. It bothered her enough that she began to wake up. The person beside her licked at her neck and she instantly recognized her dream lover. Moaning, she woke up entirely, only to jump off the couch in surprise.

Oh gods, that tongue had belonged to the _dog_.

Inuyasha stared at her with his head cocked to the side, as if asking her what was wrong. Her reaction. Her instant reaction was wrong. Sure, she had been dreaming, but still. She'd been yearning for that tongue to lave her hard nipples, slip between her parted thighs.

It looked like she was definitely going on that date with Kōga.

Like she expected, he was awful. Sure, he was nice and made an effort to impress her, but they just didn't fit together. Every moment she spent pretending to listen to him speak was a moment of excruciating agony where she was acutely aware that she would rather be almost anywhere else than here with this man in this crowded place with all his attention on her face. He expected too much. He expected her to be whole. He expected her to give him a chance. He expected her to be normal.

After two drinks, she said her aunt expected her home soon and left.

Again, she was crying by the time she was through the door. Something that should have made her happy had been emotionally taxing to the point of hurting. What was wrong with her? She needed help. She needed to find some help. Just before she cried herself unconscious, she experienced an extra dose of pain that Inuyasha had not come to greet her at the door like he always did.

Kagome was back in the meadow.

Had she been sad before? There was a heaviness in her chest, like a bruise, that lingered, but she couldn't remember anything that would have caused it. The man was sitting beside her, wasn't he? Then everything was fine.

The painful squeeze at the back of her neck jolted her and soon she was looking into enraged golden eyes.

"You. Are. Mine."

Her face met the grass she wondered what she could have possibly done to anger him to such a frightening degree. Kagome _was_ his, she didn't dare dispute that. How could he have gotten the idea that she thought differently? Her rapidly beating heart skipped a beat when he entered her and all thoughts were knocked out of her head as it hit the ground with the force of the sudden thrust. Nothing remained inside her but him, as it should be. As she wanted it to be. As it was always meant to be.

His hands slammed down over hers, grabbing at them as desperately as her pussy was grabbing onto his cock, never wanting to let go. He pinned them behind her back between them and made sure she left them there. Sharp claws pierced the skin of her hips and she whimpered from the thrill it gave her. As if reading her mind, one hand released her hip and went to rub at her clit. Kagome wanted to play with her nipples but the very idea of not being allowed to do so brought her more pleasure than fulfilling that desire would have. The thick sliding of him inside her soon had her on the verge and she cried out into a mouthful of grass and dirt.

"You are mine," he huffed, slamming inside her impossibly fast. "You are _mine_. _You_ — _are_ — _mine_!" Just as he shot his load inside her, his teeth clamped down on her neck, holding her in place. She could feel the blood oozing from the puncture wounds as he lapped it away. Kagome wanted to stay like that forever, her lover inside her two different ways, his arms around her, safe and secure.

If she could have slept forever, she would have.

Waking up was worse than dying. In the dark of her living room, she glared at the ceiling. Why couldn't she have been allowed to stay like that for just a few more minutes? Maybe if she'd had a few more minutes, she could have spoken to him. Could have held him back. Kissed his lips. Told him her feelings. Asked him if death was a dream. Asked if he would be there.

Her neck throbbed and she put a hand to the hurt, her mouth falling open in shock when she felt the wetness and saw the blood. A sound made her jump and she forced herself to squint into the room. To her relief, it was just Inuyasha. But there was a darkness around his jaw, and as he licked at the fur she saw it was blood.

Kagome felt faint.

What was going on? What was happening? Whatever it was, she was taking the dog to the shelter tomorrow morning. Whether he had bitten her or something or someone else, she couldn't deal with it anymore. The dreams were enough to drive her crazy, but having things start becoming strange in her waking life was more than she could handle. Keeping an eye on the dog, she carefully walked to her room, trying to keep up the appearance of nonchalance. Sweat tainted with fear broke out on her brow and the small of her back. He tried to come after her, to follow her to bed like he was used to, but she slammed the door, locking it behind her.

Inuyasha threw himself at the door, growling and barking, suddenly mad. Kagome covered her mouth as tears fell from her eyes. Why was this so emotional for her? Why did it affect her almost on the level of losing her family? Something was wrong. Something was so wrong with her.

She barely slept that night, too afraid the dog was going to break through the door. The thought crossed her mind to call animal control, but something stopped her when looking up the number. He stopped some time before dawn, and she was finally able to get a few hours of rest, only to feel absolutely horrible upon waking. It wasn't just that her dream lover hadn't visited her and she'd had only darkness, but her head was spinning and she ached everywhere. The night before she had felt like fainting in her panic, but now she was genuinely afraid that she might.

The car she called got to the clinic fast and that was all that mattered. Kagome didn't even remember walking inside. Feeling marginally better just being in the air conditioned, sterile environment, she was just well enough to fill out the basic information on the paperwork. There were only a couple people ahead of her since she got there so early, and she had to wait no more than ten minutes before she was called back. After doing the necessary weighing and blood pressure and temperature and urine test, she was finally able to sit in the tiny room, staring at posters meant for children and wondering why the anatomic eye statue was making her queasy.

The doctor came in without knocking. "Hello, Miss Higurashi. I'm Dr. Takahashi." They shook hands. "I see here you've been experiencing sudden bouts of dizziness, nightmares, swift emotional changes."

She nodded and opened her mouth to elaborate, but the doctor continued before she could get a sound out.

"Have you had any changes in your life or routine recently, any stress?"

"Yes, there were some deaths in the family and I moved..."

"Well, that explains it. " She smiled at her like she had just solved all her problems. "So many things come down to stress. I'm sure the pregnancy is only exacerbating the problems. Try and take it easy."

There was a faint roaring in her ears and she swayed, almost falling off the examination chair. "P-pregnancy? That's not possible. I—I can't be—"

The doctor looked like her reaction was entirely normal. "You're about a month along. Some signs should have already been present. Should you wish to terminate, there are many places that can help you."

Kagome barely heard a word. Pregnant? No.

"Check again!" she demanded. "You've got my results mixed up with someone else's. Check again!"

"Miss Higurashi, lower your voice." Her face was as stern as her voice. "My lab doesn't make _mistakes_."

The hidden insult had the tears rushing to fall. Not wanting to cry in front of anyone else, Kagome stumbled out, surprised when no one tried to stop her or comfort her when she was so obviously distressed, not that she would have listened or welcomed anything. The clinic was obviously wrong. She'd leave them an awful review online and tell her insurance. In a daze, she walked into the closest convenience store and grabbed a pregnancy test. Paying for it quickly, not making eye contact with the cashier, she asked for the bathroom key and tried it out right away. While she waited, she realized that she'd forgotten to ask the doctor about the dog bite. It didn't even hurt anymore, which worried her. Pulling down the high neck of her blouse, she stared in shock at the mirror. There was nothing there. Telling herself to focus on more important things, she checked the stick.

Positive.

False positives happened, right? She'd read about them somewhere. Couples convinced they were expecting only to have their dreams crushed. She repeated the process, picked a different brand and paid for it then took it to the bathroom.

Positive.

Kagome didn't feel capable of doing it again. There was no way she could be pregnant. How could she have conceived around the time she'd moved into her aunt's house?

Around the time the dreams started.

With shaking fingers, she called a car. It was short enough for her to walk, but her limbs were unsteady. As soon as she walked through the door, there was a strong desire for her to go to sleep. For the first time, she realized how foreign it felt, how she wasn't tired but being deliberately put to sleep. Inuyasha was nowhere to be found. Grabbing a backpack, she started packing the barest of necessities while calling Kaede. She almost screamed when she got her voicemail.

"Kaede, I can't stay here anymore. I'm going back to the shrine. You can have it. You can have the house, you can have the money, you can have it all!"

A force came from behind her and pinned her to the bed. In despair, she watched in the mirror across from them as Inuyasha clamped his teeth down on the phone, destroying her only means of communication. He was heavy, so much heavier than he'd ever felt before. Kagome fully expected him to turn on her, so it was no surprise when he began to tear into her. What was surprising was that he stopped at her clothes. By this time, she was sobbing, her eyes closed. But the touch of his tongue on her naked spine had her eyes wide open in shock.

It was no longer a dog behind her, but he could not be called a man. It was something in between, covered in fur, meeting her gaze in the mirror with a feral lust that made her want to vomit. The shock was too great that she couldn't make a sound, couldn't make herself move to resist as his frighteningly clawed fingers rubbed her between her thighs. The feel of his rough skin over her sensitive engorged clit broke her and she went limp, the thought that this could not possibly be happening, this wasn't real echoing in her mind over and over.

"This is the most real thing in your life," he whispered to her in the voice of her dream lover.

Kagome's hands fisted around the sheets as he lay on top of her, entering her slowly, carefully. A hard rape she could deal with, but a soft seduction made her insane. Everything inside her yearned for him to be the one to bring her satisfaction, and that was certainly not a planted feeling. Turning her face to the side, she watched them in the mirror and him from the corner of her eye. The smooth rhythm of his hips coaxed moans from her unwilling lips and soon she was fucking him back, willingly fucking the dog-man, banging her ass back against his hips.

As a reward, it seemed, he brought both hands to her breasts, fingering her hard nipples before pinching and pulling them, rubbing them until they were sore. She pressed her cheek into the mattress hard, arching back into him, opening her legs further, panting in ecstasy. It soon became apparent that the more enthusiastic she became, the less like an animal he looked. When she brought his fingers, still wet from playing with her pussy, to her mouth and she started sucking her essence off of each one, slowly and sexily, meeting his eyes in the mirror, the change was complete.

Her dream lover was real.

Inuyasha grabbed her by the shoulders and began frantically slamming into her, focused on his own orgasm. The sight of him using her like that was so incredibly arousing that it sent her over the edge and she screamed into the covers as she clenched around him. It was too much. She was so sensitive now that his every movement was setting her off again and all she wanted was for him to come inside her, to fill her up again with his hot seed, to stop torturing her by making her come over and over. Working her hips as fast as she could, she squeezed down on him both automatically and intentionally, successfully getting him off just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore.

The too real feeling of him shrinking inside her, his hot breath on the nape of her neck, the weight of him pinning her down had her crying again.

"I'm crazy. I'm fucking _crazy_."

Inuyasha grunted and withdrew from her. "You're just pregnant. Stop overreacting."

If she hadn't been on the verge of hyperventilating, she swore she would have slapped him. "How? How is this happening?"

"Blame your bitch aunt." Without even looking, he opened the second drawer in the nightstand and pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter.

This was all too surreal. "What _are_ you?"

He smirked at her. “Your dream come true.”

When she turned over on her side and began to cry harder, he put out the cigarette and spooned her, strong arm wound around her, hand rubbing her middle. It was all surprisingly loving and her tears stuttered to a stop.

“I met Kikyo when she was just a little older than you.” His voice sounded like he was mentally very far from her. “She came to our world and my father sent me as an ambassador to her. My mother is from here but it had been so long since one of us had crossed over. We had a thing for a little while, but she wanted me to go with her and I wanted to stay. So I broke it off. Didn’t expect the bitch to fucking curse me.” His face turned murderous. “What I did to you was nothing compared to what that cunt put me through. Forced to live as a fucking animal unless she felt like getting off. And then I couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything but watch her and hate her. Her magic was always strong, she was always on her guard. But then she got older and she got weaker.” He grimaced. “Before you ask, yeah. She kept using me right up until she died.

“Kikyo knew full well that every spell demands a price. And the one she cast meant that I would die with her, die well before my time, and we would be together in hell, where I would finally get to pay her back for all of eternity. She didn’t give a fuck. She just wanted to punish me no matter what, to make me suffer for daring to not want her anymore. But the bitch found a way out.” Without him saying it, she knew that way out was her. “That’s right,” he said softly, something in his gaze turning predatory. “You, Kagome. Someone to take her place. It had to be a woman like her in face and form that shared her blood.”

There was nothing she could do but stare at him, stare at the man from another reality and wonder what would happen to her now.

“I’m not like her,” he murmured, kissing her lips briefly with just enough force to remind her of his fangs. “When she decided to make you her heir, that broke the spell, and I was able to finally kill her. Believe me, I made it last. And I’m grateful to you for that. For just existing. So I’m making you my wife. Hell, you’re carrying my kid, anyway. Father will be pleased.”

“Please let me go,” she whispered, too quiet for even her to hear. “Please, if you want the baby, take it and go. Kill me and go.”

Continuing as though she hadn’t spoken, he smoothed her hair like her mother used to do, calming her. His hands drifted and he caressed her face, her neck, her breasts.

“So soft,” he admired. “Demon women could never be this soft. And warm. Nice and warm.” Seeming to come back to himself, that evil glint reappeared in his eye. “We’re never coming back to this world. I’m sealing off the gate in this house. You’ll be living in my quarters in the palace, but don’t ever expect me to treat you any differently than a whore.” His hand was between her legs again, distracting her from thoughts of anything but him. “You’re Kikyo’s replacement, after all.” She moaned and watched his head duck down to nibble at her hard nipples.

Whether this was a dream or not, Kagome guessed it didn’t matter as long as they both got what they wanted.


	5. Hagne Kore

**Note: I took a class on classical mythology because I straight up love me some myths, and while I was reading a very, very archaic translation of The Rape of Persephone, it struck me how hilarious it kind of was. Other than all things Baubo, I mean. Like just the language used. Persephone is always referred to as “deep-bosomed”. And I mean always. Heaven forbid we forget the teenage girl being abducted and raped by her double-uncle had really slammin’ huge tits, like wtf.**

**_The lonely god of the underworld, Inuyasha, loses his heart to a beautiful maiden he spied near one of the gates to his domain. Though her father permits their marriage, her mother doesn’t approve of him, knowing something about the dread king that he doesn’t._ **

**V: Hagne Kore**

Despite their close familial relation, Inuyasha had never even seen his niece until chance and fate intervened that bright spring day.

From what he’d heard from his brother Miroku, their sister Sango always kept the girl close to her and at home, away even from her father. Miroku himself only saw his daughter on rare occasions, when he had sent Sango a summons and she actually complied. Even then, she refused to come to him but made him descend from the skies. A powerful goddess in her own right, she never felt the need to obey her brother despite his position as king of all, reigning from his palace in the clouds. Forever enamored of her, he didn’t pressure her like he did everyone else, didn’t force her to do anything. After refusing an offer to rule alongside him as his queen, she retreated to a remote earthly location, where she used her powers to build herself a home of trees. It was there she gave birth to the girl. To Kagome.

It wasn’t often that Inuyasha left the underworld. His powers were magnified below the earth while everyone else’s were weakened, and why would he want to give up that strength that made him the most fearsome of gods? So fearsome that even his fellows feared to say his name. But that was nothing compared to the fear of the dead. It sustained him. He fed off of it, craved it, desired it like nothing else.

Until her.

There were several passes between the realms above and below. Most were filled with deadly chemicals, fatal to humans. Good deterrents that also increased the population of his domain. The more dead he was able to torture, the happier he was. Unfortunately for his little niece, her nymph playmates had led her too close to one of them.

Inuyasha just happened to be surveying the boundaries of his kingdom that day. Sometimes, the mortals tried to seal up the passages, and he couldn’t have that. It was just fucking annoying. So periodically he traveled and made sure everything was the same.

The cave by his love’s leisure spot was one of the least obvious gates. Covered in vines, it was on the edge of a thick forest where a mountain abruptly rose, the mountain that supported the palace of his brother. Flowers of every kind dotted the landscape and the bright colors hurt his eyes, so he avoided it, sometimes skipping that gate altogether. But fuck he was glad he had forced himself to walk through the tunnels.

They couldn’t see him, but he could see them. The vines were the perfect covering, hiding him from their gaze and the sun. The three nymphs were a little younger than the ones he usually fucked with, but they were completely nude, lying on rocks and drying off from a dip in the pond he knew was nearby. To see so much perfect womanly flesh was rare for him and he figured he’d stay a while and play the voyeur, maybe jack off a little before heading back and ruling from his throne of bones.

Hand on his cock, he almost finished without seeing her. Instead of choosing a warm rock like her friends, she was on her back in the tall grass. Flowers surrounded her, peeping in and out of her long waves of black hair that was even darker than his own, and she was weaving a few into a braid that would eventually become a crown.

“What do you think it’s like on the top of the mountain?” she asked.

Her friends stopped their gossip. “You’d know better than any of us, Kagome. We’re not allowed.”

The girl sat up and pouted, strands of grass sticking out of her hair. Inuyasha suddenly couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He was hot all over. His heart… His heart hurt.

“Mother doesn’t let me. She says it’s nothing but hedonism and debauchery. If she had her way, I’d never see Father, either.”

Kagome. Her name was echoing in his head, in his chest. He knew that name. This was the girl. This was the daughter of his siblings, the little love child. The purest and loveliest of flowering seed that their line had produced. The one Sango had wanted to shelter away from mortal and immortal alike. And fuck, she might have had the right idea.

Kagome was beautiful.

It was more than just beauty, however, that drew him to her. She was brighter than the sun, more delicate than a flower, sweeter than honey. He hated all those things, but he wanted her anyway. Kagome could be his sun. She could be his flower. She could be his honey. He’d led a life without springtime, hating the mere mention of it, but now he wanted to lock this beautiful child of the season away forever, the only one to see her, experience her.

The innocence that was apparent in her every word and movement had him moving toward her, but he stopped himself. Instead, he watched and waited. His cock was weeping at the mere sight of her, and he memorized her perfect breasts, her pale round bottom, her gorgeous legs, and that place between her thighs that was the center of her innocence. Inuyasha imagined himself between them, her legs over his shoulders as he ate her out, his tongue the first thing to ever touch her virgin pussy aside from her own fingers. Her own fingers… He pictured her masturbating for him, to him, like he was doing to her. The deeper he was drawn inside his mind, the more his large hand on his cock no longer felt like his. Instead, it was small and soft. Hesitant and eager and inexperienced and curious all at once. Teasing.

His seed shot out and painted the wall of the cave and his own stomach as he groaned her name like the last word of a dying man.

“Did you hear that?”

Inuyasha froze at the sound of her voice.

“No, what?”

Kagome’s looked and smelled afraid. “It sounded like someone was calling me.”

The other girls looked around. “Here? In the middle of nowhere where even your mother let you go off without her breathing down your neck?” They laughed. “She’s really got you traumatized.”

Upset now, she got to her feet, bending over and giving him quite the view as she collected her garments. “I’m going home! You’re being mean.”

They giggled as she stomped off. One rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, the little princess needs to relax a little.”

Grinding his teeth, Inuyasha hated them for driving her away. His eyes tingled unpleasantly from having been robbed of looking at her. Who knew when she’d forgive her friends and come back to this lonely little place? Who knew when he’d see her again?

He wasn’t full of himself. He knew women didn’t like him for more than one night. While power was what seduced them into his bed, it also made them run. Brutality was attractive for a moment, not forever. Because of that, he was the only one of his brothers yet to take a bride. He ruled a third of the earth yet no one would stay by his side. No woman would want to confine herself to the kingdom of the dead, to live without the sun, to mete out justice to those who had sinned horribly. Miroku pitied him, though he did not understand. Women flocked to him. While it was true his lightning bolts struck fear into the hearts of mortals, punishment wasn’t something he often dished out. Usually, he left that to his older brother.

The bitterness thoughts of his brother always brought evaporated when he realized something. Miroku was Kagome’s father. He could talk to Miroku.

Going back through the cave, he went as fast as he could to the passage that led to the palace in the clouds. It had been ages since the last time he’d ascended and it showed on the shocked and fearful faces of the other gods. Inuyasha had power over death, and thus had power over life, and while it was true gods could not die, he was the only one who could inflict the most fearful of punishments: imprisonment among the departed mortals, no access to ambrosia, drained of ichor daily. It was the most humiliating of punishments a god could suffer and had only been given out a handful of times.

Word went around quickly that he was outside his realm, and gods and goddesses peeped out from behind corners and columns, whispering as though he couldn’t hear them, as though he wasn’t better than the lot of them.

Rather than have him approach the throne, Miroku came out to him.

“Inuyasha!” he called merrily, arms open wide. “Brother! Have you come to feast?”

He stayed silent for a moment, enjoying watching Miroku’s smile fade and his arms lower. Wetting his chapped lower lip that still bled from where he’d bitten it in his solo passion, he grinned as menacingly as he could.

“I’m here to make a purchase.”

His posture relaxed somewhat. “Sure. Yes. Anything. Ambrosia? I have offerings of gold, diamonds, silver. Strong horses.”

Inuyasha shook his head and laughed. “I think you know I have far more wealth than can be found here on this disgusting cloud. We both know whom mortals fear more.”

Miroku took it like the insult it was. “Then what have you left your realm to buy?”

He took the time to look around the room, meeting the eyes of those too slow to look away. Knowing how things operated up here, they would be telling their friends how they’d stared down the god of death himself until he looked away. Sango was right to keep her daughter from these idiots.

“I want a wife.”

All talk ceased.

“A wife?” he asked, incredulous. “You hate the very idea of marriage. And why come to me? Can’t chase down your own nymph?”

A few laughs echoed. Just a few. He took note of who they were and made sure they noticed.

“I don’t want a nymph. I want a goddess.”

“Have you picked a beloved?” He seemed genuinely curious. “Do you want me to introduce you?”

Inuyasha nodded. “No need for you to be involved beyond the transaction. I will reveal myself to her in time.”

“Well, who is it?”

Tension mounted. None of the goddesses wanted to be the one he would woo. And that was fine. He wanted nothing to do with whores.

“Kagome,” he said, voice softening at the taste of her name. “I want Kagome. Give me your daughter.”

Miroku paled. “Kagome? Where did you—How did you—Does Sango—”

Waving a hand dismissively, he said, “None of that matters. I’m prepared to pay a high bridal price. Name it and it’s yours.”

“Inuyasha, I hardly even know the girl. And Sango would not allow her to marry anyone, especially not you.”

He growled, low and fierce, and leaned closer. “Neither of you had a problem with me when I won the war for you. Neither of you had a problem with me when I gave the position of ruler of all to you.”

Miroku owed him and he knew it. Everyone knew it. Inuyasha could have easily made himself king of heaven and ruled like the dictator he was, but he preferred the underworld and the shadows. As he saw it, the gods should all be grateful he did not enslave them when the war was over and force them to do his will.

Sighing, he of the lightning crossed his arms. “Even so, I cannot be the lone one to give you my approval. Sango needs to know. She needs to agree.”

Inuyasha snorted. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. “The bitch has you so pussy-whipped you’re still panting after her twenty years after you last had it. Fucking pathetic.”

That got to him. “You know nothing about Sango and I! You hide down in the dirt and lord your power over the helpless—”

“I’ll give you Kagome’s weight in gold and the harpies.”

An old familiar glint flashed in his eye. “The harpies?”

Miroku had wanted the harpies for ages. Four identical women with inhumanly beautiful faces and delicate feather wings. They served Inuyasha in every respect. As executioners, punishers, messengers, and bed partners. Completely devoid of personality, they would be the perfect women for Miroku. He was tired of them, anyway. His brother had no idea how many tons of raw meat the women went through in a day.

“And Kagome’s weight in gold. Decorate your temples, dispense it as gifts to the gods or mortals. Whatever you wish.”

Miroku was already nodding. “I suppose you wouldn’t be a bad husband for the girl. You are among the three most powerful of gods. Sango has no right to object to such a good match.”

“Glad you see it my way.”

“When will the harpies be delivered, brother?” he asked, casually throwing an arm around his shoulders.

Inuyasha laughed as he shrugged him off. “As soon as I take my bride.”

Miroku grinned, doubtless already planning what he’d do with his new toys. “I’m full of joy that my beloved daughter has caught the interest of such a generous man. There is no doubt in my mind the two of you will be happy.”

“Indeed.” His cock twitched thinking of the happiness they would find together.

“Have you decided when the wedding shall be? I would like to attend. She is my daughter, after all.”

Inuyasha suspected that he just wanted a chance to console what would probably be a drunken Sango, maybe even knock her up again.

“I’d rather it be a private affair. She’s a shy girl.” Smirking at him, he said, “Sango will need something to distract her from her darling daughter becoming a woman.”

His entire face lit up. “I’ll see what I can do, brother.”

It took a few weeks to prepare, a few weeks of excruciating want and waiting, but finally his kingdom was ready for a queen. His heart was singing as he looked over the changes he’d made to his personal chambers for her. Few powerful men, immortal or not, shared their chambers with any woman, especially a wife, but that was simply a testament to how absolutely smitten he was with his niece. She was of his blood, and since she shared such a royal attribute, he must hold her in the highest regard. Only the finest luxuries for his queen.

Inuyasha made sure he looked especially regal on the day he was to introduce himself to his bride. For she was already his bride, even if she didn’t know it. The harpies were already on their way to Miroku, each of them carrying chests filled with gold that themselves were solid gold. Fixing his black cape in place, he stared at himself in the reflective surface of the polished obsidian. Should he smile? Mother always told him to smile. Testing it out, his fangs winked back at him. Maybe he’d keep his mouth closed. That would probably be best. He grimaced. His palms were sweating. Fuck, he swore nothing had been this difficult. Fighting a thousand wars was easier than meeting his bride face-to-face for the first time. But there was nothing he wanted more.

Since that first time he’d seen her, he’d been much too busy to watch her, though he desperately wanted to. All day, he imagined her as he had seen her, bathed in golden sunshine, naked and unashamed. Even though such thoughts gave him a raging erection, he didn’t try and relieve it himself. No, he wanted to save something for his bride. Inuyasha wanted to store up passion for her, to show her without words what she did to him, what she had been doing without even knowing it.

It was time.

His servants had readied his chariot for him. The four black horses, as immortal as he, were already stamping at the ground, eager to take their master on his mission. But it would be no race through the vast underground caverns this time. This time, they were going to breach the surface.

**O\o/O**

Kagome sang a song she had made up when she was little to herself. After what she’d told her mother her nymph friends had said, the goddess had rescinded her permission to spend time with them. It was for the best, she thought. Disrespecting her mother like that was terribly mean. It upset her all over again just thinking about it. Sure, she sometimes had her own thoughts that ran along that vein, but it was different! She loved her mother, and her mother was the only one in the whole wide world who loved her.

It was lonely being by herself, though. She wished maybe a different set of nymphs would come and play, but they were so isolated here in the woods that it seemed impossible. Her mother was off visiting her temples, so there was no one to talk to but the flowers. That should be enough for her. The flowers had been her only friends since she was a child. She stared outside the window. It was such a nice day… But Mother had told her to stay inside. She said it was dangerous for her to be alone since she didn’t really have any powers. But what was there to be afraid of? Mother had made sure there were no beasts that would come near their home, and no one came out this far, anyway.

In seconds, she was outside, enjoying the warm sun and happy breeze. Just smelling the fresh air made her smile. Twirling, she watched how her new dress flared out, almost exposing an indecent amount of her legs. Blushing, she giggled. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she started toward it. Lips parted in wonder, she picked the flower. Never had she seen such a pretty one before. There were more a little further on and she stooped down, picking almost all of them, leaving a few so that there would be more to brighten up the forest. Mother would be angry when she saw them at first, knowing Kagome had disobeyed her and gone outside, but surely she’d appreciate how pretty they were forgive her right away.

The skirt of her dress was heavy with the yellow flowers and the sun was beginning to set. She figured it was time to go home. But one more flower, more golden yellow than the rest, had her fingers itching to pluck it from the earth. It was only a few steps away, head hanging over a slight dip in the earth. Going to her knees, she gathered the very last flower and immediately felt a sense of satisfaction fill her.

The earth shook.

The ground split.

Kagome watched in uncomprehending fear as out of the dirt burst four horses, each as black as night with eyes as red as blood. They pulled a golden chariot, within which stood a man of a kind she had never seen before, though she only had her father for comparison. Hair the color of midnight that cascaded down his back, cruelly glittering onyx eyes, bronzed skin bulging with muscles. She knelt there, frozen, unable to process what she was seeing. Then, without the horses even slowing down, the man leaned over and circled an arm around her waist, pulling her into the chariot. Kagome screamed in horror and in upset that she had lost her flowers. Struggling madly, she tried to throw herself from the chariot, uncaring of whether that would injure her. But his grip was like iron as he held her close, pressed against his body. Everything about him was hard, and when she felt what she’d thought was the hilt of his sword twitch against her stomach, she felt sick.

Mother had been right.

**O\o/O**

Sango arrived to a dark and empty home.

She’d first felt that something was wrong hours ago, when she’d been visiting her temples and hearing prayers, granting some and denying others. Everything in her said to go home, to check on Kagome, to make sure everything was all right. But she had duties. She wasn’t just a mother, but a goddess as well. And it wasn’t like she didn’t realize she had a tendency to be a bit overbearing. Maybe she was just being paranoid. So she forced herself to go through everything on her to-do list, breathing in the smoke from the sacrifices and taking joy in her devout spiritual children.

“Kagome?” she called, feeling a headache coming on. Sango really did love her daughter more than anything but it was frustrating how she was still such a child at her age. “Kagome!” She’d started out annoyed but now she was worried, her paranoia coming back full force.

She checked every room in their cozy, comfortable home. Her daughter’s smiling face was in none of them. It wasn’t like Kagome to do this to her. Even when she was little, when she tried to play hide and seek it was always easy to find her since she couldn’t hold in her giggles. But she was much too old for such games now.

“Kagome, answer me!” she called, finally really comprehending that her daughter was not in the house. “Where are you?”

The forest was silent.

Perhaps she’d gone off to play with the nymphs again. That would be something she’d do. It took over an hour, but she finally found the young nymphs her daughter had taken a liking to. They were lounging in a pond, combing each other’s hair and gossiping about gods and how to catch their attention.

Kagome wasn’t with them.

“Where is my daughter?” she cried. Sango didn’t mean to yell, but she had been so sure this was where Kagome was that the lack of her doubled her fear.

The nymphs huddled together, wide-eyed in fear of the goddess.

“We don’t know! We haven’t seen her in weeks!”

How she wished they were lying. Sango knew they weren’t, but if they were, she could punish them, force it out of them.

The weight of the realization that Kagome was gone brought her to her knees. Seeing their opportunity to escape, the nymphs fled, leaving her all alone. It had been so long since the last time she was truly alone. Why had Kagome left her? No, her daughter wouldn’t leave her. She was terrible at keeping secrets, so any plans to run away would have been quickly revealed. They were happy together. She knew she was strict, but they loved each other. They didn’t need anyone else. They were a complete family.

Miroku.

She could talk to Miroku. She could go to him and ask where Kagome was. After all, he was the supreme god. He knew everything, and what he didn’t know he could easily find out.

For the first time since she found out she was pregnant, she ascended the mountain.

Not much had changed. It was still an everlasting party. Everyone was feasting and flirting and fucking. It disgusted her to think that once she would have happily been among them. Seeing it all again only proved to her how right she was to bring Kagome up far away from such immorality. Before she could even approach the great doors that led to the throne, they were flung open, and Miroku rushed to her. Immediately, he enveloped her hands in his, sleazy smile on his face, completely oblivious to her tear-stained cheeks and obvious distress.

“My lovely Sango,” he purred, eyes roaming her body, “I felt your approach and couldn’t help but to meet you. How long has it been since we were last together in our home?”

If it had been any other day, she would have slapped him. Instead, she collapsed into his arms, sobbing. It felt good to have his arms around her. It felt good to have him comfort her.

“K-Kagome’s gone!” she sobbed when she could finally get the words out. “Miroku, our baby is gone!”

The soothing motion of his hand massaging her upper back stopped. “…Gone?”

“I left to visit my temples for just a few hours and when I returned she had vanished! She’s never done something like this before. I’ve looked everywhere, asked everyone, and she’s gone. She’s gone!”

“Are you quite sure? Perhaps she merely found a lover and is off on some tryst.”

Something about the way he said that made her look up at him. No one knew the lightning lord like she did, and she could see right away that he was hiding something. Her eyes narrowed and one hand fisted in the robes at his collar.

“You know something,” she hissed.

“What makes you think that, my love?” His voice came out as a squeak and she swore if she had a knife she would have used it.

“ _Where is my daughter, you bastard!?_ ” she screamed, having had enough of his games to last her several lifetimes.

A winged woman swooped down and screeched in her face. It shocked her enough that she loosened her grip on Miroku, allowing the harpy to tug him away and safely out of her reach far above the floor.

“So sorry, Sango, I’m really very busy and I’d love to chat with you but there’s just so much—”

She threw her shoe at the harpy and hit it square in the nose. It let out another unholy sound and dropped Miroku, who barely managed to float to the floor gracefully and not fall on his ass like the idiot he was.

“That’s a fucking harpy.” Stomping over to her brother, she glared at him with enough force that he flinched. “Tell me why you have one of Inuyasha’s harpies.”

“…It was a gift. They were gifts.”

So he had more than one. “I’m not stupid. Inuyasha doesn’t give gifts. What did you do for him?”

He couldn’t meet her eyes. “Nothing, really. He wanted to take a wife and all I did was give him my permission.”

Her stomach sank and her vision blurred. Before she knew what was happening, Miroku had taken her in his arms and they were in his private chambers. Gently, he laid her down on a silken couch.

“My baby,” she whimpered, too hurt to cry. “You sold my baby.”

His hand stroked her hair. “She’s my daughter, too.”

“You don’t even know her!”

“Whose fault is that!?”

“Like it would kill you to leave the mountain every once in a while!”

Miroku rolled his eyes. “Look, what’s done is done. Inuyasha has Kagome and they’re married now. He paid the bridal price we agreed upon. It’s not a bad match, Sango. You know how powerful he is.”

“You don’t understand!” she cried, her throat tight. “Inuyasha isn’t normal.”

“That’s more than obvious.”

“I mean his habits. His sexual habits. He’s… He’s not normal.”

Miroku stared at her a bit too intently. “And what would you know about that?”

Stubbornly, she met his gaze. “You know how I was before I became a mother. It was what you liked about me.”

“Well, what’s not normal about him? Does he have a thing for feet or something? Or maybe he likes to get peed on. He looks like the type. Maybe both—”

“Be serious!”

“Sorry. I thought I was.”

Sitting up, she ran her hands through her hair, pulling at it in her emotional agony. She just couldn’t believe this was happening.

“You must have heard _some_ things, Miroku. The nymphs do talk a lot, after all.”

He shrugged. “When I’m with a nymph, we don’t do much talking.”

Wasn’t that the truth. “He… Inuyasha is very dominant. Some girls like that, but he goes too far. He likes hurting people. It’s what gets him off.”

Now he looked concerned. “What do you mean that he likes hurting people? What does he do?”

She shook her head. “Like I said, he’s not normal. He’s a sadist.” Beginning to feel like she had recovered, she continued, “When exactly did he come to you?”

“About a month ago, I guess.”

“And what was his attitude toward Kagome?”

“It was only a few minutes, Sango. You don’t get much from a few minutes. But he seemed, I don’t know, already possessive of her. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves her. It’s a good match.”

Holding her head in her hands, she struggled not to cry. “How did he even see her?” she muttered, mostly to herself. “I tried so hard to keep her safe. How? How?”

The hand that had been a comforting presence on her back slipped a little lower. She stiffened. That idiot. Their child had been taken by a madman and he thought _now_ was the time to make a move!?

“Now, my dear Sango, it’s always distressing to a mother when the child leaves the home, but it’s important to understand that they must grow up and do grown-up things. The two of us used to do grown-up things, remember? Remember how nice it felt to—”

She punched him in the mouth.

No matter what, she was going to find her daughter.

**O\o/O**

Inuyasha hummed for perhaps the first time in his life as he carried his bride over the threshold of his rooms. Safe and secure in the cradle of his arms, Kagome stared glassily up at him. The fumes from the tunnels would have killed a normal human and greatly weakened a god. It seemed Kagome wasn’t very powerful, judging from how absolutely languid she was and how she’d almost passed out the moment they entered the cave. That just made him love her more. A beautiful little delicate wife that would always need him to protect her. More and more he saw how very suited they were for one another.

She shared his strong blood, though. She would adjust.

Opening the door to her cage, he gently placed her down on the plump silken pillows he’d had made for her. The design of her prison was something he’d come up with himself. Taking up half his bedchamber and reaching to the very ceiling, it looked like a giant bird cage. The bars were made of solid gold and engraved with promises of love and devotion.

The way her eyes filled with fear when he pulled his knife out from his belt made him smile. His bride still didn’t have the strength to move, let alone run. What must she think was happening? Soon, all the things that went through her pretty little head would belong to him, too. The dagger he’d sharpened to a deadly degree over the past few weeks, cock hard and yearning for her, split through her pretty white dress with ease. The sound of the fabric tearing was beautiful music. Once more, her perfect body was revealed to him, and even better, he could touch it now.

At first with just the tips of his fingers, he ghosted a caress down her cheek and throat, stopping at the swell of her breast. Inuyasha could feel how the saliva gathered in his mouth at the sight of her pink nipples hardening in the cold subterranean air and maybe partially at his touch. He wanted to cover her in himself. He wanted to brand her with the heat of his body. Unable to hold himself back anymore, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her cherished innocence, breathing the scent of her cunt in. A harsh breath escaped her nose and he wondered how hard she was trying to scream. He better hurry and fix her up.

Solid gold and dotted with rubies and diamonds was her collar, connected to a golden chain that would allow her to roam her cage and, when he felt like unlocking her prison, his bedchamber. With a soft click, he fastened it around her slender throat. A perfect fit. It was able to disconnect from the chain but the collar would not be removed itself, at least not without powerful magic that only he knew. Inuyasha would want her by his side at all times, always sporting his proof of ownership.

The red rope he’d ordered made by some of the more powerful chthonic sorceresses was in reach, waiting inside the cage to serve its purpose. With quick, practiced movements, he trussed her up. The rope crisscrossed over her beautiful body, contrasting with her milky skin. It encircled her breasts, squeezing them, not enough to cut off blood flow but enough for her to really feel it. Down her stomach, over her hips, then twisted together into a single line between her pussy lips and ass cheeks. Turning her over, he continued to tie her up, securely binding her feet to her hands, leaving her thighs spread wide open.

A bit of red silk served as a gag, and then she was truly perfect.

“I’m not going to blindfold you, baby girl,” he murmured into her hair, his body hovering less than an inch over hers. “A bride needs to see everything on her wedding night so she remembers it forever.”

Just barely, he made out the sound of her whimpering from behind her gag.

“That’s right. You’re a married woman now. You’ve done well for yourself, Kagome. You’re the queen of the underworld.” Straightening up, he looked down at her bound, helpless body. “But even a queen is no more than a slave in hell.”

She’d recovered enough strength to scream when he slapped her ass the first time. The sight of her delicate skin turning pink in the shape of his hand made him rub his cock through his robes. With each smack of his hand on her ass, she got a little louder. Finally, she started to struggle. Inuyasha had been waiting for this. Her sexy little movements had the rope digging into her most sensitive place. Kagome stopped, shocked at the feeling of something touching her there, only to jump when he slapped her harder than the other times. He kept going until she was screaming without stopping and he was sure her ass was going to stay that perfect sunset color for a good long while. He could only imagine the pretty bruises that would blossom, which he would make sure to kiss over and over again.

Turning her over onto her back, his heart swelled in his chest when he saw how she looked at him, how she pleaded with her eyes. Instead of hating him, she recognized her position as his inferior, his property, and was asking in the only way she could for mercy. As her loving husband, he would grant her that.

Once he was satisfied.

His mouth crashed down on her flesh and he sucked at the skin of her neck hard. Now he not only could hear her screams, he could feel them. Tears had trekked down her cheeks and he licked them up, kissing her face after each one. Hand on her chin, he turned and cleaned the other one off too. It seemed to shock her out of crying and so he moved to taste her breasts. Big, plump beauties topped with little pink pearls that bounced in his hands. He hadn’t been able to get them out of his head from the moment he’d seen them. Licking from underneath her right breast, he trailed his tongue over it, avoiding the circle of her areola, and to the top, where he gave in to his desires and bit down, marking her with his fangs. Her ichor was sweeter than ambrosia.

Inuyasha licked and kissed all around Kagome’s breast. He was trying to tease her, trying to tease himself by not sucking her nipple, but his niece was making that very difficult with how she struggled and arched, trying to get away but only bringing herself closer to him. The want for her was too strong and he gave up, humming in pleasure when he sucked her thick pink nipple into his mouth. Was that a moan he heard?

“You naughty girl,” he murmured against her skin, tongue circling the diamond hard nub, nudging it, playing with it.

Kagome definitely moaned when he sucked at her other breast, his palm cupping her abandoned breast and squeezing the still wet nipple between his fingers. He nipped and nibbled at her perfect peaks, further aroused by her sensitivity and the blush on her face that detailed her confusion and arousal and instinctive shame. It was time for the next step.

With eager, trembling hands, he fasted the jeweled clamps to her nipples, memorizing the little shriek she gave at the first time feeling of the pain. The chain between them was delicate and gold, only the best for his bride. Inuyasha drank her in, watched her back arch as she squirmed, displaying her full breasts shining with his saliva to his hungry gaze. Nothing had ever been or would ever be as beautiful as this moment.

Tugging on the chain not too hard or too gently, he stared into her gray eyes. “You were bad today, weren’t you, baby girl?”

Frantically, she shook her head, big eyes begging him to believe her.

He tugged harder. “Don’t lie to me.”

Shutting her eyes tight, she shook her head again.

Fed up, he slapped her across the face just hard enough to get her attention. “I said don’t lie!” he barked. “It’s my job to punish liars, and I do it very well. Now, didn’t you disobey your mother and go out gathering flowers?”

Her eyes watered and slowly, she nodded, stiff with fear.

Inuyasha glared down at her with faux contempt, secretly still giddy inside that she had liked the flowers he’d caused to grow so much that she’d been willing to go against Sango’s orders.

“You were a bad girl, didn’t I tell you? As your family, as your husband, I have to punish you.”

Small, pleading sounds in her throat were a prayer to soften his heart. All it did was make his cock harder.

“I use this on my horses when they disobey me,” he said, grabbing his riding crop, “just like you disobeyed your mother.”

Kagome’s eyes were still widening in realization when he brought the crop down on her left breast. It bounced gloriously, happily, turning red to match her ass. Each time he brought the crop down, he hit harder. Her screams went from sounds of protest to shrieks of true pain. Over and over he hit her, punishing her tender young breasts with brutal blows. The ichor still sluggishly flowed from where he’d bitten her breast, bathing her nipple in its ethereal beauty.

His mouth watered to taste it, and his lust for her made him angry. Why should a woman, a girl, have so much power over him? One last hit, full of rage, had the clamps flying off. Her tortured buds were so swollen and almost purple. Against his will, he bent down to taste them again, soothing the sting and drinking in her ichor. Kagome’s tits were hot against his face and red. Sensitive, too, more so than before. He could tell by the way her cries quieted, reminded him ironically of a baby with a pacifier, and how she arched her back into his face almost stealthily, pushing more of her breast into his mouth.

His niece’s wanton actions were driving him mad. Grinding his teeth in an attempt to restrain himself, he turned her back on her stomach. Seeing her face during what they were about to do would ruin everything and it would all be over in seconds.

Forcing anger into his words, he masked his true feelings. “I can’t even look at your lying face right now, whore,” he said from between clenched teeth. Grabbing a handful of her silky hair, he tugged her head up and brought her ear to his lips. “You’re lucky I’m going through with this marriage even after you proved to be a liar, and worse, disobedient.” It was very important that she learned to value obedience.

Shoving her down, he let go of her and began disrobing. Every muscle in his body was straining with impatience, longing for contact with the one he loved. This was it. He couldn’t bear to wait anymore. All his life, he’d been waiting for her. His fingers quickly found her opening and he could tell that if she had been able she would have shut her legs tight in an effort to preserve her innocence. Too bad he’d thought of everything. The journey inside her was the most difficult he’d been on yet. Fuck, but she was tighter than a nymph’s ass. He clenched his jaw so hard that he swore he heard a crack, but he was too invested in pleasure to feel anything else but her heat.

Inuyasha sighed in pure bliss as he broke through her maidenhead. At last, she was wrapped around his entire length. There had been a second where he’d feared he was too thick for her to take and they’d have to work up to it, but it was as he thought in the beginning, they were made for each other in every way. Kagome’s walls pulsed around him and he groaned. Was she trying to do that? Slowly, carefully, he began to move. When she didn’t make anything more but the usual racket, he picked up the pace until he was slamming inside her, forcefully filling her up completely and then some. Fuck, but she was wet. So wet and so hot and so damn perfect.

Keeping one hand on her reddened ass, squeezing the bouncy flesh, he grabbed for his belt with the other. For a second, he was undecided. He knew he wanted to use it, but how? Where would he strap her? Inuyasha figured maybe she’d had enough of that. Maybe it was about time he delivered on that mercy. Looping the belt around her neck, he pulled it tight, bringing her head up. Her strangled noises were just what he needed and his thrusts became frantic and irregular. It wasn’t long before he could feel the cum boiling in his balls, ready to shoot inside her. Kagome’s face was as red as her ass and tits and he came to a sudden stop, withdrawing from her. She sagged in relief.

Inuyasha pulled her to her knees using the belt around her neck and brought her back against his chest.

“Do you want to be forgiven?”

She nodded eagerly, affirmative sounds coming from behind the gag.

“You’re going to be a good girl from now on? An obedient wife?”

She answered the same way.

The lord of the underworld removed the belt from her neck. In a few seconds, the ropes were undone and coiled on the pillows. Lastly, he removed her gag. When she didn’t immediately scream or try and run, he left things that way.

“Prove it. Suck your husband’s cock, Kagome.” He stroked his member, eyes on her face as she watched him masturbate using her pussy juice and virgin blood as lubricant. “Clean up the mess you made.”

There was only a moment of inaction on her part before she opened her mouth. Rubbing the head of his cock on her lips, he plunged inside. She could take about half of him without choking. Her eyes looked up into his, wordlessly asking if she was doing it right, wanting his approval.

“Suck it up and down, baby girl. Use your hand on what you can’t fit into your mouth.” He moaned. “Just like that. Fuck, you’re gonna be great at this in no time.”

Encouraged by his praise, she sucked him harder, tongue traveling over his shaft, bobbing her head up and down. A natural. Of her own volition, she began to explore his body, not stopping her fellatio. Her hand traced his legs, fascinated with his hard muscles. Curious fingers massaged his balls, and even when he bucked into her throat in response, choking her, she didn’t stop, realizing that was a good reaction. Both hands on her head, he pushed her down on him until her nose was grinding into his flesh. The feeling of her throat repeatedly closing around him as she choked and gagged set him off and then he was drowning her with his cum.

“Swallow it all!” he growled, fucking her face. “Don’t spill a single fucking drop.”

Inuyasha hadn’t really expected her to accomplish it, but somehow, she managed to swallow the entire flood of cum, the biggest load he’d shot in his entire life. Licking her lips like a hungry kitten, she silently awaited further instruction.

“Very good, baby girl,” he praised. “Good things happen when you’re good. Do you want your first wedding present?”

She nodded.

“What do you say?”

Kagome paused, face screwed up in thought. Hesitantly, she said, “…Thank you, Master?”

Well, he had told her she was his slave, after all. He decided he liked the title. “Good girl. Lay down and relax.”

She did as she was told. For a moment, he just admired her. Beautiful and collared and chained, freshly fucked, lips swollen from sucking him, nipples hard, tits and ass a rosy red, belt mark around her throat. His most precious possession. It was finally time to make his first fantasy of her a reality.

Going down between her legs, he put her knees over his shoulders. Kagome allowed him to move her however she wished, giving no resistance. He watched her pussy twitch just in reaction to him breathing on it, releasing some of her sweet juice. Licking his lips, he dove in. The feasts on the mountain were nothing compared to Kagome’s pussy. No offering or sacrifice could even come close this. One at a time, he sucked her pussy lips into his mouth, pulling back a little and releasing, nibbling the sensitive flaps of skin. His bride was freely moaning and mewling now, the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. Sticking his tongue in her hole, he scooped out some of her tasty juice and spread it around. Licking around her clit, he ignored it, tongue darting over and under and going as close to it as possible.

Kagome was tearing at her hair in lust, pinching her nipples, grabbing at her collar. He knew she didn’t understand what was happening to her, what she wanted. Seeing her so crazed was a beautiful sight and so he prolonged her torture longer than he intended to, bringing his fingers into play. Circling the hole he promised himself he’d plow later on, he had to hold her down when her hips jumped in surprise. Using a single finger, he pumped inside her cunt, feeling how she squeezed him and amazed that he had managed to fit his entire cock inside her. When he felt she was about to come, he sucked her clit, moving his tongue over it in quick swipes. Her reaction was more than he had expected and the entire underworld rang with the shrieks of her first orgasm. Inuyasha didn’t stop. He kept sucking and fingering her until she came again, and again, and again. Two orgasms after she began to weep, begging him to stop, he finally removed himself from her.

Again, she was completely limp, this time from exhaustion rather than poisonous fumes. Gathering her into his lap, he hungrily kissed her mouth. She tasted of him and her, of divinity. His heart sang in joy when she wrapped her arms around his neck, even if it was just to keep her balance.

“Your home is here now,” he said in between kisses. “I took it easy tonight since you were a virgin, but I won’t be so gentle next time.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You mean you’re going to hurt me again?”

Kissing her again, he laughed. “I’m your husband, Kagome. I would never hurt you.” He curled a tendril of her hair around his finger and tugged, lazily watching her cringe in pain. “But sometimes I have to punish you. Like if you don’t listen to me even though you know you should. You’re mine. I bought you fair and square. I _own_ you.” His hand traveled between her legs and she squealed when he pinched her clit. “Your parents are both my full-blooded siblings. You know what that means? You know how close we are? I am more than just your husband. You must obey me like a father, Kagome, because we’re close enough that I could be.” Inuyasha circled one of her bruised nipples with a claw, not missing how she shivered and shifted on his lap so she was closer.

“I’ll be the best wife in the world, I swear.” She smiled shyly. “I never thought I’d get married. I’m very happy to have such a handsome husband.”

He moaned into the kiss. “And I’m happy to have a beautiful, obedient wife.”

**O\o/O**

Sango was at her wit’s end.           

She had traveled the earth for months, checking every gate to the underworld that she knew of. Like he had anticipated this, Inuyasha had done something to close them. Every single one was blocked off, and the lingering fumes ensured that she did not possess enough power to get through them. She’d consulted other gods and goddesses, obtained every kind of spell even remotely related to her cause, and even sought the help of mortals who knew of magic. But nothing worked. Nothing could bring her daughter back.

Maybe she had discarded Miroku too soon.

It took days after the thought crossed her mind for her to act on it. As desperately as she wanted to save Kagome, she hated the idea of ever seeing that bastard again. He had sold her daughter! Sold her only child to their evil, insane, sadistic brother! Even so, he might be her only hope.

Everything about Sango spoke defeat when she requested a private audience with Miroku.

Of course, the idiot had that broad grin on his face. Like nothing in the world was wrong.

“My lovely Sango, twice in one year you’ve ascended to see me! Could it be that you will at last take your throne by my side?”

Fighting against rolling her eyes, she smiled at him as sweetly as she possibly could. “I don’t think Koharu would appreciate me taking her place.”

In a flash, he was helping her sit on the reclining couch, putting her feet on his lap in an intimate way she hadn’t allowed for the past twenty years.

“Hush, darling, you know she’s the one who tried to take your place. I’d have no problem divorcing her and sending her back to the harem.”

She figured that was about enough bullshit. “I want you to open a gate to the underworld for me.”

His face fell. “Are you seriously still occupying yourself with that?”

“She is my _daughter_ , you—” She cut herself off. Yelling hadn’t worked before.

Unclipping her tunic at the shoulders, she whipped it off and flung it across the room. Shaking her hair loose from its tie, she grabbed Miroku by the collar. His mouth was wide open and his eyebrows were raised comically high.

“I’ll let you put it in my ass.”

He recovered himself quickly. “Dearest Sango, if only you’d allowed me the first time I asked, we wouldn’t be in this predicament now.”

Pressing her lips to his, she finally had some blessed silence.

**O\o/O**

Sango traveled down the newly opened gate to the underworld somewhat stiffly. It wasn’t just the toxicity of the air that was getting to her but how she’d allowed that pain in the ass Miroku to cause her literal pain in the ass. It would all be worth it, however, once she collected her daughter. She’d take Kagome back home, give her a brief lecture, assume she had learned her lesson from the torture she’d gone through in the underworld, and then life would go back to normal.

None of the gods had ever ventured into the underworld unless they were forced in order to receive punishment. Sango herself had only heard horror stories and rumors about what went on down there. True to the stories, the noxious fumes were weakening her rapidly. But she was strong, and so she persevered. Through twists and turns, she made her way, until finally she could see the glow of the spirits of the dead. Pushing her way through the crowds, she approached the throne.

There was Kagome.

Dressed in luxuriant flowing purple robes, jeweled collar circling her neck, she sat upon her uncle’s lap. It appeared that some souls were awaiting judgement and being neglected by their rulers. Inuyasha was currently occupied with whatever his hands were doing under Kagome’s clothes and she was giggling, holding her hands to her blushing face. To Sango’s relief, he soon stopped molesting her daughter and barked some orders to an attendant. She wanted to say something, to cry out to her child, but the poison fumes had taken her voice.

In horror, she watched as Inuyasha clawed open a pomegranate and took a bite, pressing his lips to Kagome’s and passing her a mouthful of seeds. She crunched down on them happily, squealing when he resumed touching her.

“No!” Sango screamed, the despair filling her finally restoring her ability to speak. After so long, after trying so hard, after taking it in the _ass_ , she had been too late.

“Mother!” Kagome cried cheerily, giving her a wave. “When did you get here?”

“Kagome, why did you eat the seeds?” she mourned, approaching the throne. “Now you can never come home.”

Inuyasha laughed. “Is that what you’re worried about? Fuck, Sango, she’s been here for months. She drank down _my_ seed within the first hour. You were too late by the time you noticed she was gone.”

Her daughter nodded. “My home is here now, Mother. With my husband.” She grinned. “But I’ll still come and visit you. Every year. As long as it’s okay with Inuyasha.”

He kissed her temple. “You’ll have to be extra good.”

Sango looked at the loving newlyweds and wanted to punch something. Miroku. She wanted to punch Miroku.  


	6. Serial Killer Know How to Party

**_A group of college kids go camping, but their relaxing retreat turns into something else entirely._ **

**VI: Serial Killers Know How to Party**

Inuyasha watched the latest group of fucking idiots leave their cars and grab their camping equipment. Wasn’t any of his work making it into the news anymore? Or did this generation just not fucking care about their safety? He supposed the idea of danger could make the location appealing to some, but again, those were idiots. Fucking idiots.

Rubbing his hands over his sword, he surveyed the group. A typical bunch, probably in college. Couples. Three girls, three guys. Two were demons, wolves by the disgusting smell of them. All of them were good-looking in a classically attractive way and it seemed like they knew it. Especially the one bitch that kept catching his eye.

Out of all the girls, she was hands down the most fuckable. In his opinion, at least. He knew some would have preferred the redhead or the athletic one, but the curvy petite bitch was just what he liked. Unlike the others, she wasn’t dressed for roughing it. Her tiny skirt would have showed off her ass if she leaned over just the littlest bit. On top she wore a gauzy white cropped shirt that showed off the red bathing suit bra underneath. Humming happily, she sat on the trunk of the car while the rest of them unloaded their bags and supplies.

One of the boys came up to her and picked her up, laughing when she wrapped her legs around him. Inuyasha hated him. He had a weak chin.

“Happy anniversary, Kagome!”

The rest of them congratulated her, too.

“Are you really sure you want all of us here on your special day?” the redhead asked.

Kagome just smiled. “Hojo and I have been together since high school. We’ve had a few of these already. Why not spend the time with the closest people to us?”

The wolf sidled up to the couple, holding a couple of bright pink suitcases. “I’ve got your stuff, Kagome. Where do you want it?”

“Thanks, Kōga!” she chirped, sliding down her boyfriend’s body. “Um, I just bought those and I don’t want them touching the ground and getting all dirty. Can you wait until Hojo sets up our tent and then put them inside?”

Nodding eagerly, he clutched the bags. “Sure thing! I’ll hold on to them until then.”

Inuyasha decided to ignore the rest of the idiots who had wandered into the woods. This time, he’d go after just these. Maybe finally he would have some peace and be left alone. Tetsusaiga hummed, hoping for blood.

“Soon,” he whispered, his eyes on Kagome’s legs. “We’ll fuck them up good.”

**O\o/O**

Kagome fucking hated camping. She hated fucking Ayame, too. And Hojo. Gods, she wished the two of them would just say what they were thinking already. She couldn’t stand pussies.

“Mmm, a little harder, Kōga.” She moaned and glanced at the wolf’s girlfriend. She was livid, her green eyes blazing as she watched her boyfriend massage Kagome’s bare shoulders, the shirt she had been wearing now stowed away in her tent, leaving her in just her tiny bikini top.

Hojo just looked depressed. He was bringing down the entire group. Really, he should be more considerate.

“Why did the two of you pick this place?” Miroku asked, always trying to lighten the mood.

Grateful for the distraction, Hojo jumped at answering the question. “Oh, well, I always let Kagome pick what we do for our anniversary. Six whole years.”

“You don’t seem like the outdoorsy type.” Sango had only recently joined the group when Miroku began dating her a month ago. Kagome liked her and decided they were going to be best friends once Ayame was edged out. “Not that that’s a bad thing,” she quickly amended, obviously wanting the popular girl to like her.

Kagome just smiled. “I heard some great stories about the nature here, that’s all.”

“Yo, like that one about the fucking psycho with a fucking sword that fucking kills everyone in the fucking place?”

Kōga’s voice was too loud in her ear and she gave him a look, feeling better when he meekly apologized and went back to easing the tension in her shoulders. They had all been drinking, but the wolf demon was putting them away at double the rate of everyone else.

“I’ve heard about that,” Hojo said. “Some guy caught his girlfriend cheating on him in a cave with the criminal he’d been trying to catch. He went crazy and killed them and himself, and now his ghost haunts the forest.”

“I heard that he isn’t dead, he’s a demon from a powerful family and they make sure to cover up all his crimes.” Miroku wrinkled his nose and took another drink. “Fucking demon privilege…”

Ayame began to look genuinely frightened. “Wait, do you remember that story from last year? About those girls who were doing spiritual training up here and they went missing? They found their bodies just last month and they were fresh. Someone had kept them _alive_ all that time, doing who knows what to them.”

Kagome finished her beer. “I always found the idea of being kidnapped so sexy.” Judging by how Kōga’s hands were just touching her now rather than doing anything worthwhile, he’d liked that. His fingers slipped beneath the strings that kept her top tied shut, teasing her skin in little circles.

“Of course _you’d_ say something like that,” Ayame muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

“I think I’m gonna turn in.” Hojo stood up and stretched. “Are you coming, Kagome?”

He sounded so needy that she wanted to puke. “Give me a few minutes, baby.”

Her boyfriend went to the tent and probably shed a few tears into his pillow while sniffing her panties before falling asleep. The rest of them stayed up and talked. First Miroku and Sango went to their tent, then Ayame literally pulled Kōga by the hair into theirs. Finally, it was just her and the campfire.

Breathing in the smoky air, she opened the bag of marshmallows they had forgotten about and pierced one, holding it over the flames until it caught on fire. As she watched it burn, she wondered what her friends would have thought if she’d told them the real reason she wanted to come here for her anniversary. Blowing out the flame, she put it all in her mouth, not caring that it burned her tongue.

Too late, she heard footsteps behind her. When she tried to turn her head, a hand grabbed her by the hair and she screamed only to have her mouth covered by a rough palm. Pressing her against his body, her captor dragged her from her seat on the stump deeper in the woods and shoved her against a tree.

“Get ready for my sword, bitch.”

Kagome turned around and punched him on the shoulder. “Kōga, you asshole!”

He laughed, trying to cover up the sounds so they wouldn’t be heard. “I thought you wanted to be kidnapped! Thought it got you hot.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Those few seconds when she hadn’t known who it was that had grabbed her were beyond thrilling. Fuck, she was crazy horny now.

Dropping to her knees, she unzipped his pants. It seemed like their little bit of play had affected him, too. Kōga was big, a good bit bigger than Hojo, and that was why she kept him around. Pumping him in her hand, she watched him grow, squeezing him just right until the first tiny drop of precum peeped out.

“And what do you want me to do with your sword, Mr. Big and Bad?”

Kōga covered his mouth as he groaned. “Suck me off, but don’t let me come. I love finishing inside of you.”

She complied, sucking him down her throat and caving her cheeks, looking up at him through soft half-lidded eyes like she was the one who was getting oral. He whimpered and grabbed her by the hair, always careful with his claws, not pulling, just keeping a hold on her. What a nice guy. But she already had a nice guy.

After just a couple minutes, he was ready to blow. Slowly, still sucking hard, she drew her head back, taking the warmth of her mouth from him and leaving him with a little lick to the head of his cock. Getting to her feet, she turned around and lifted her skirt up over her ass. Eyes twinkling flirtily at him, she moved the string of her bikini bottom to the side. Running her fingers up and down her wet slit, she beckoned him with her glistening digits.

Panting like a dog with his tongue hanging out, Kōga rammed his cock right into her. She winced at the contact. Fuck, but that was more like it. Forearm on the tree, she rested her head against it and played her favorite fantasy out in her head, rubbing her clit frantically. Even if they weren’t very close to where their friends and significant others lay sleeping, she had to hurry because the wolf, like Hojo, didn’t exactly have staying power. At least before he shot his load he actually managed to do a good job. Sometimes she even came. A few times.

He kissed the side of her neck and she wanted to swat at him for distracting her.

“Fuck, Kagome, how much longer do we have to do this? I wanna be with you, baby.”

She ignored him. They could talk about that the next time she was bored and went over to his place. She’d tell him the same lies and they’d go on as they had for the last few years, half of her relationship with Hojo.

“Harder,” she panted, another face behind her shut eyes, another voice whispering dirty things to her. “Fuck me harder, Kōga. Gods, don’t stop! I _said_ don’t stop! What the fuck are you doing!?”

Kagome turned around, intending to bitch out Kōga for doing an even worse job than usual, but her voice died in her throat.

The wolf demon’s headless body was still inside her, hands still on her hips. Screaming, she pushed it away. His head stared up at her, face still frozen in pleasure, that telltale look of him about to cum stamped on his face until the flesh would rot away.

“I knew you were a fucking slut.”

The gravelly voice made her blood turn to ice. Was that—

Pain exploded in her head and a blinding light was all she could see as the back of her skull hit the tree hard. Disoriented, she felt herself being thrown over a shoulder, and then the wind was whistling in her ears. They were traveling. Blood wet her hair and the fuzzy slowness of her thoughts convinced her that she had a concussion. Then they were in a bright place and she heard the sound of a door shutting. Hair damp with blood covered her eyes and she couldn’t see. But Kagome felt the rope cut into her skin, heard the chains rattle, gasped as she was hoisted into the air.

Warm hands brushed the hair back from her face and a wet cloth cleaned her up. Blinking the water out of her eyes, she was finally able to make out the face of her captor. Dark brows, silver hair. It was him.

Inuyasha dragged the towel down her chest, between her covered breasts. Down her stomach, over her skirt, which now looked more like a belt, and right to her center, still wet and exposed from her unfinished tryst with Kōga.

“It’s been a long time since I had such quality pussy.”

Before she could think of anything to say in response, he ripped her bikini bottom from her and stuffed it in her mouth.

“I’m trusting you to keep that in there,” he said sternly, like she was a stupid child. “It’s not like screaming will do you much good, anyway. There’s no one left but me to hear you.”

His sword, covered in gore, he reverently placed on a nearby table. While he removed his blood-stained white button-up shirt, her eyes took in every detail of the place. It was a cabin, that much was obvious, but very large and modern, not at all like the trashy one she had been expecting. There was central heating, judging from how warm she was, and she could smell hot cocoa. Nice furniture, nicer than she had in her own home, decorated the living room they were in, and she could see the reflection of an expensive kitchen in the screen of the giant television.

It looked like Miroku had been right.

In just his pants now, he stood before her, studying her. She wondered how she must look, dangling from the ceiling by a complex series of knots, her arms tied behind her back, legs folded and tied, spread wide open. Kagome did the same to him. He must have a gym or something, or maybe being a serial killer was harder work than she thought, because the dude was seriously jacked. Before she could blink, he tugged down her bra and her hard nipples were exposed. His eyes gleamed and he flicked one with his claw.

“Are you enjoying the taste of your own pussy that much, bitch?”

If Kagome weren’t gagged, she could have told him that they were practically always like that and had been for years, ever since a certain encounter had left her perpetually unsatisfied. But he wasn’t wrong. She was enjoying it, too.

Pinching both nipples, Inuyasha pulled them away from her as far as they would go. She cried out, the sound muffled by the bathing suit. His mouth full of jagged danger came down on her breast and he sucked, running his tongue in a circle around her nipple, brushing his fangs over the hard nub. One hand on her ass, the other went between her legs, shoving two fingers inside her without warning. Pumping inside her, she squeezed down on them, somewhat disappointed when she didn’t feel claws scraping against her insides.

No matter what, it felt good, it felt better than anything had in years, and so she rode the fingers as best as she could. When he noticed her enthusiasm, Inuyasha gave her an odd look, but evidently it wasn’t enough to stop him for long and he continued sucking at her nipples hard enough to bruise, his wickedly sharp teeth pricking her. Rocking her hips, she moaned when she was finally able to maneuver to an angle where his fingers were rubbing against her g-spot. In no time, she was miraculously near her first climax in ages. His hand on her ass squeezed tighter, claws almost puncturing her flesh. She felt the backs of his other set of claws on the inside of her thigh and shuddered. This was it. But wait, how were his claws on her ass and against her thigh when he was fingering her?

Screaming, Kagome slammed herself down one more time on his hand and felt herself begin to squirt, every muscle in her body twitching and going wild. Without meaning to, she lost the bikini bottom after one of her more powerful moans and it hit the floor with a dull smack, coated in pussy juice and saliva. Now limp, she didn’t even feel the ropes as she smiled in satisfaction. Fuck, but that was good.

Inuyasha laughed and left her breasts with a wet pop. Sleepily, she glanced down at him. He stood with his arms crossed, looking at her in a mixture of condescension, lust, and private mirth.

There were still fingers inside her.

Looking down, she shrieked when she saw the severed hand dangling from her, still wedged deep. Still laughing like it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen, Inuyasha removed the hand, waving it at her. All fingers but the first two had been ripped off. Somehow, she recognized who it belonged to.

The murdering demon slipped the fingers of the dead person into his mouth, making a show of sucking off her juices.

“Fuck, you do taste good, Kagome. No wonder you were having such a grand old time before I even touched you.” Throwing the hand aside, he drew his claws over her inner thighs, leaving pink lines and goosebumps in their wake. “As slutty as you are, I still bet no one’s ever finger banged you from beyond the grave before.”

She licked her lips, still tasting herself.

“That was the first time Hojo’s ever gotten me off.”

He raised one brow, mouth dropped slightly open, stunned.

“Is that it? Is that all you’re gonna do to me?” She was a little pissed off. “You’re not going to fuck me on a hill of my dead friends’ bodies?”

“What the fuck!?” he blurted out.

“I’ve been waiting three fucking years for this!” she screamed at him. “Don’t try and tell me your dick doesn’t work anymore.”

Growling, he pulled the chain down and she hit the floor fast. Before she could open her mouth again or try and get to her knees, he was inside her. Oh, but he was even bigger than Kōga. Bigger all around. Just like she remembered. Her eyes crossed as she squealed in pleasure.

“I found this in your make-up bag,” he hissed in her ear and then she felt the vibrator directly on her clit on the highest setting.

“ _Fuuuck_ ,” she mewled. She’d bought it specifically for the trip and hadn’t tested it out before. It was way stronger than she thought it would be.

Between the combination of his thick length thrusting inside her and the powerful vibrations on her clit, she came in mere seconds. The hard weight of him on top of her, the hot feel of his panting breath against her hair, the way her nipples were rubbed raw on the carpet, how he yanked her hair back and nearly took it out of her skull had her coming again.

This.

This was why she had wanted her anniversary to be spent here.

**O\o/O**

Inuyasha was sweating. Somehow, he had managed not to blow his load inside the bitch even after she had clamped down around him ten times, arching her back all sexily and making those noises that had his cock twitching. Ten orgasms. He’d forced her to have ten painful fucking orgasms, plus the one she’d had when riding her dead boyfriend’s fingers. He was rather proud of how creative that had been. Taking his hand had been a spur of the moment thing, something unplanned. When the boy with the weak jaw had woken up to the noise of him cutting up his precious friends, he’d actually tried to fight him instead of saving his ass and running. In return, Inuyasha had cut his hand off from his wrist and left the boy alive just long enough to realize what was happening and what would happen.

Just remembering had his balls tightening. Fuck, but he was close.

The redheaded wolf demon had gotten her tongue cut out while she was still sleeping. He found her unnecessarily loud and annoying. So he’d done that and packed her mouth with dirt, shoving her face into the ground while he pondered whether to fuck her ass or not. That was when he’d heard the sound of a couple rutting in the woods.

He knew it wasn’t the two humans. He’d wounded the man, but not deep enough, and he was pretty sure they had gotten away. Inuyasha always liked to let a few get away, just so the stories would spread and people would stop coming to his woods. Since Kagome hadn’t been in the tent next to her boyfriend, he assumed it was her. There was no longer any need for the redhead. Tetsusaiga told him to cut off her head, so he did.

Witnessing the little whore fuck her friend’s boyfriend was the most delicious thing he’d seen in so long. Recalling how she’d hugged that tree, entire body straining for a harder fucking, not knowing that her partner in crime had been decapitated, was what he held in his mind as he fucked her pulsing pussy. Just as she came for what, maybe the thirteenth, time, he roared as he spilled his cum inside her, filling her up until his cum flowed back out. Snarling, he threw the vibrator across the room and grabbed her by the hair, slamming his mouth onto hers. He wanted to taste her.

Kagome moaned against his lips and flicked her tongue, wanting him to open. He did and their tongues crashed together and he tasted her pussy. When was the last time he’d been kissed so passionately, so willingly? A woman was kissing him in lust, in desire. Not in fear at his command, or hoping to save her worthless life. How long had it been?

He broke away from her.

Oh fuck.

Oh _fuck_.

“You remember me, don’t you?” she smiled.

**O\o/O**

Once, someone had the bright idea to build a summer camp in the Inuyasha Woods. The land there was cheap since no one had wanted to buy it in decades. About to begin her last year of high school, Kagome figured being a camp counselor would look good on a resume. Sure, she had heard the stories, but she didn’t believe most of them. There were some pretty difficult trails in the woods, and the people who had died had probably wandered off and been eaten by animals or fallen off a cliff or died of exposure or something.

None of her friends were going to be there, but there were some girls from her school that she vaguely knew. She decided to try and be friends with them.

It didn’t go well.

The first weekend, she’d caught them drinking beer. She didn’t say anything, but reminded them that it was against the rules. They just laughed. When she caught them again, she told the camp head.

They cornered her in the room they shared.

“Why are you always in our fucking business, Kagome?”

Nervously, she tugged on one of her plaited pigtails. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Playing dumb was the best course of action, in her opinion.

Another one of the girls pushed her and she fell onto her bed.

“You’re always following us. You’re a fucking stalker!”

“Stupid snitch.”

She grabbed her by the pigtail and pulled hard. Kagome winced at her glasses falling off and hitting the floor. They took turns stomping on it and forced her to do it too, promising they would let go of her hair if she did, but they didn’t.

“You know why I think she follows us around?” the ringleader said. “I think she’s got a crush on us.”

They laughed and called her a lot of bad names, half of which she didn’t even know. More than anything, she wished Hojo was there. Hojo would protect her.

Two of them pinned her down by the shoulders while the ringleader got herself undressed below the waist.

“I think we should give her what she wants. Maybe then she won’t bother us anymore.”

She tried to scream, but the girl squatted over her face and sat down. Kagome knew no one would have heard her, anyway. The rest of the camp was all in the dining hall, which she had begun to avoid, afraid of the bullying. Kicking her legs, she tried to get out from under the girls, but they continued to hold her down, all much more athletic than she was. The one on top of her pinched her nose shut and she couldn’t breathe.

“Get to work, bitch.”

Kagome felt sick when her tongue met the slimy inside of the girl’s pussy. Tears ran down her face and into her hair. All she could hear was their laughter. There was no doubt in her mind that they’d tell everyone some version of this and she’d be branded as a pervert and a lesbian for the rest of her life. Her parents would be notified. Hojo would break up with her. Her friends wouldn’t believe her. Her life was over.

Hands ventured under her pajamas where she hadn’t even allowed her boyfriend to touch. The girls took turns assaulting her, the two of them holding her down occupying themselves with her breasts while the one on top reached back and roughly fingered her dry pussy. She sobbed but continued to work her tongue in the girl’s cunt, hoping they’d leave her alone after this but knowing that there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d get her wish.

The hips that had been rocking above her, smashing her face, suddenly stopped. Kagome wondered if it was over. Was it? She heard a scream. The girl abruptly got off of her and she gasped for breath, sitting up and intending to run.

The entire room was a scene from a horror movie.

In a split second, the confused girls, who had been trying to conceal their actions from the intruder, were cut to ribbons. In the center of the mess was a man, eyes blazing gold, covered in their blood. It stained his shining silver hair and ran down his face in thick drops.

Kagome was saved.

He turned on her, taking in her unbuttoned top, the pants pulled down to her knees, her mussed hair, the tear tracks.

The intruder sat down next to her.

“Stand up.”

She jumped to obey.

“Take off your clothes.”

Kagome figured this wasn’t so different from what had been happening to her before. At least this time she could choose to do it willingly, in thanks. She shrugged her pajamas off and they dropped to the floor, where they soaked in the blood of her attackers. He stared intensely at her in her high cut white cotton panties and cotton bra with no underwire until she felt like covering up.

“ _All_ your clothes.”

With shaking hands, she tried to unhook her bra, but she just couldn’t. Her fingers wouldn’t work. Impatient, he grabbed her and sat her down in his lap facing away from him, where he did it himself. His big hands covered her breasts and weighed them, pinching her nipples.

“Very nice,” he murmured, his voice sending goosebumps all over her skin. “You’ve got a hot little body. You should show it off more.”

She squirmed in his lap as he played with her nipples and sucked on her neck. Misinterpreting her actions as an attempt to escape rather than innocent arousal, he circled one arm around her chest, squeezing her breasts, and forced her legs apart with his knees. Clawed fingers darted beneath the crotch of her underwear and then he was rubbing her clit, making her wet. His face was next to hers, his breath tickling her cheek.

“Look at what I did,” he whispered. The feel of his words ghosting along her skin was erotic and she jumped in his lap, moaning. “Do you see those girls? Tetsusaiga told me what they were doing. Wasn’t it good of me to kill them?”

His fingers sped up and she was breathing hard. The girl who had been sitting on her face had her head nearly cut off all the way. It was hanging from just the tiniest scrap of skin. The two other girls had been disemboweled and their guts mingled together on the concrete floor.

“Yes,” she whimpered. Kagome could hear how wet she was and her hips moved along with his fingers.

In a flash, she was on her back on her bed. Her legs were in the air and he was holding them at the ankles. Bending them back to her chest, he stared at her bare feet, covered in the drying blood of the girls. His lips encircled one of her big toes and he sucked, licking the blood from her. Somehow, it was the most erotic thing she could have conceived of, and her gut clenched with lust.

“I’ve never eaten virgin pussy before. You’re so pink and tight.”

Suddenly his face was between her thighs and he was sloppily eating her out, his tongue diving inside her as deep as it would go before coming out and circling her clit. He sucked her pussy lips into his mouth one at a time and then together. When he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked, she screamed, and if he had continued for half a second longer, that would have been it for her, but he knew that. Going back to her hole, he collected some of the juices that overflowed from her and then stuck his tongue in her ass. Kagome yelped and twisted her hips, absolutely positive that this was not how this was supposed to go, but he growled and held her in place. His thumb swiped across her clit and she realized that it felt damn good.

“I want you to fuck me,” she moaned, not believing that she had actually said such a thing. Sure, she read the occasional romance novel, but when had she become so dirty? “Stick your cock inside me and rip me open!”

Her savior stopped what he was doing immediately, probably realizing that she had a pretty good idea. Undoing the closures on his pants, he pulled himself out and pumped his cock, watching how her body quivered, his eyes not missing a single thing. Before, she had been scared of losing her virginity, of whether it would be with the right person, of whether it would hurt. But she knew now that this was it. She was ready.

They groaned in unison as he entered her. Kagome ran her hands down his muscled back. They were so connected. She gasped with the first thrust. Could they be soulmates? Had she finally found her fated love? Oblivious to her thoughts, he pounded away above her. Dreamily, she stared up at him. Her savior was so handsome.

He slapped her.

“Don’t think about anything but how good my dick makes you feel when I’m fucking you!”

He wasn’t even afraid to correct her when she was wrong!

As her lower lip swelled, she felt her pussy do the same. The feeling of him moving inside her was rapture. It was everything she had never even known she’d wanted. Cradling his face in her hands, she brought his lips down to hers, not noticing the shocked expression on his face. Kagome had kissed Hojo before, but never like this. Passion didn’t exist between her and her boyfriend, only between her and her soulmate. She nibbled on his lip and sucked on his thrusting tongue. His strong hand grabbed at her breast and pinched her nipple hard, twisting it, and she shrieked as she came, bathing his cock in juice. He continued to move above her, grunting and thrusting. When he came, she did so again, the hot feeling of him spraying her insides sending her over.

Kagome kissed him again, his lack of participation not bothering her.

“I hope I’m pregnant,” she said as he withdrew and their combined fluids spilled out of her. “I probably am. What’s your name? I need to know for the birth certificate.”

He stared at her for a while. “Inuyasha.”

“Inuyasha,” she sighed dreamily. “When summer is over, we can get married at my family shrine. I’ll write Hojo tomorrow and tell him I’m breaking up with him.”

He zipped up his pants and grabbed his bloody sword. “You need fucking help.”

He left. She tried to go after him, but she slipped in the puddle of blood, and by the time she recovered herself, Inuyasha had disappeared into the night, taking her heart with him.

**O\o/O**

Inuyasha remembered that right after that, the news had reported the summer camp burning down. There were few survivors, one of whom being Kagome, who had been found wandering the woods. Probably looking for him.

Fuck, and he’d given the crazy bitch just what she wanted.

In horror, he realized that he’d clawed most of her bonds off while fucking her. Now free, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was too shocked to respond. She kissed his chin, his chest, down his stomach, and stopped at his cock. Taking him into her mouth, she cleaned their cum off of him and soon enough he was hard again despite himself.

“I’ve been practicing for you,” she purred, rubbing her cheek against his shaft. “I figured that was why you left the first time. I get it, I was young and inexperienced. But now we can be together. I stopped taking my birth control a week ago and I haven’t let anyone but you come inside me since, so I’m probably definitely pregnant this time.”

To shut her up, he stuck his cock back in her mouth.

He guessed he was stuck with her now.


	7. There Is No Love Like the First Love

**Note: Every January, my Grandma says, “No hay luna como la de enero, ni amor como el primero. I will not say in English. English makes the mouth go ‘gah’ like the German.” Or something close to that.**

**_Inuyasha has only ever loved one woman, but she’s been gone for ten years. Now a famous rock star, he goes to take back a gift he gave her only to have his entire world changed._ **

**VII: There Is No Love Like the First Love**

“Inuyasha! How am I supposed to tutor you if you don’t even show up to school!?”

He rolled his eyes. “Nice to see you, too, Ka-Go-Me.”

“I’m serious!” She sat down on the park bench next to him and he tried not to look at how much thigh she revealed with that action. “You’re going to get into a lot of trouble someday if you keep it up.”

“So, what did I miss?”

She shrugged. “Nothing much.”

Inuyasha chucked, laughing harder when her expression turned offended. “Why are you so mad that I skipped, then?”

“Because you’re smart.” She leaned in close and if he tried he could have counted her long, thick black eyelashes. Sparkling gray eyes glinted in the sunlight and he was once again completely paralyzed, dazzled. She always liked to get too close. It made him nervous. “You’re smarter than me. You’re smarter than everyone. But you don’t care and you don’t try and that’s why you’re failing everything.”

He forced himself to turn away from her. “Keh. It doesn’t matter. I’m gonna be a rock star, anyway. I won’t need any of this shit.”

Kagome snorted. “A rock star who can’t play an instrument or write music and refuses to show his songs to anyone.”

“Not this again,” he groaned.

“Just let me see it! I won’t tell anyone anything. Please? Pretty please? I’ll be your slave for a whole hour! For a whole day, even!”

His stomach twisted at the thought of what he would do to her if she was his property for an hour. He brought the notebook he carried everywhere with him down on his lap so that it would cover his erection. Gods, but he hoped she didn’t notice.

“No way.” It was lame, but it was all he could think of.

Kagome crossed her arms and pouted. He tried not to look at her chest. Slowly, her expression melted and she was giving him a smile.

“I guess I’ll have to wait until you’re famous to find out.”

His face colored. She started getting up.

“No tutoring today?” He tried to sound joyful.

“Nope.” She popped the p and somehow that made him like her more. “It’s my birthday tomorrow. I’m celebrating with my family today, and then tomorrow with my friends.” She leaned over and got in his face again. Didn’t she know what that did to him? “Tonight, though, I’m celebrating with Hojo. He told me to meet him here at exactly midnight.” Her breath smelled like strawberries.

He blinked. “Oh.” Her boyfriend. She was talking to him about her fucking boyfriend.

“See you tomorrow, Inuyasha!”

He waved at her but she was already turned around, running home.

They didn’t see each other tomorrow.

Inuyasha actually went to school the next day. Full of anxiety, he wanted to see his tutor’s face. To see if the innocence in her eyes had changed. Because what else was she going to do with her stupid fucking boyfriend at midnight on her eighteenth birthday? Just thinking about it made it so he hadn’t been able to sleep. Looking around, he didn’t see her even though she usually hung out by her locker and talked with her friends before class. Maybe she was sleeping in after a long, hard night. Without meaning to, he punched his locker hard enough to dent it.

“Hey, man. I guess you heard already.”

Miroku was eyeing the damage he’d done to his locker, glancing at him warily like he was about to fucking lose his shit.

“Heard what?” His eyes darted around the halls. Where was she?

“About Kagome.”

Did everyone know? Had Hojo been spreading shit? He was going to kill that fucker!

“What about Kagome?”

Miroku patted him on the shoulder. Confused, he was about to make a gay joke, but his next words hit him like a train.

“Kagome died last night, man.”

His ears rang. His vision faltered. He was fucking with him. He had to be fucking with him. Grabbing him by the collar, he pushed him back against the lockers.

“Don’t say shit like that!” he growled.

Scared now, the human boy pulled at his wrist. “It’s the truth! They found her in the park last night on a bench. Some sick fuck strangled her. They arrested a homeless guy named Naraku.”

Inuyasha let him go. Stumbling outside, he pushed past people. Sad people. Crying people. People talking about her. About Kagome and what had been done to her. Everyone loved her. It wasn’t just him. She was the school idol. Smart, pretty, nice, popular. Someone said the funeral was going to be at the shrine today after school.

He hadn’t done it since he met Kagome earlier that year, but he met up with his dealer and requested whatever was strong enough to make a half-demon forget he was alive. Whatever it was, it worked. For a little while. In that dream without sleep, he was with Kagome. Things they had actually done, like teasing each other over tutoring, combined with things they had not actually done. Like holding hands. Kissing. Telling each other how they really felt. Inuyasha had never done those things with anyone before, and his heart always tormented him by making him think of Kagome doing that with Hojo. Even though he was certain that she had a thing for him and would be with him if he just manned up and told her that he was in love with her.

After all, why else would a girl talk to someone like him?

When he was almost sobered up, he found himself on the shrine grounds. He had visited a few times for their tutoring sessions, but she mostly preferred to meet him in the library, even though they nearly always got kicked out for being too loud. It was nice at her house. They'd sit at the kitchen table and her mom would bring them snacks. It was nothing like the group home, which was pretty much the only home he could remember. His mother had left him too early to see him off to school and make him snacks, and he'd never known his father.

That was one of the things they'd connected over. Kagome lost her dad, too. It left the family struggling financially.

They had a lot in common, if he thought about it. Not dumb shit, like movies and music and food. But real shit. Shit that mattered.

He was a little early. Not many people were there yet. Feeling hollow, he wandered through the grounds, not seeing the looks people gave him.

Kagome's mother stood with her grandfather and brother greeting the mourners. Sōta smiled shakily when he saw him. The kid liked him. That was nice. They were a nice family. Mrs. Higurashi spotted him and ran over to where he was. He wondered why.

"Oh, you poor boy," she murmured, giving him a hug. "What happened to you?"

Answering that would have taken too long. "Where's Kagome?" he slurred.

Her grandfather limped over. "What's that? Her charity case? Doesn't he know there's no reason for him to come around here anymore?"

He didn't care what the old man said. "Where's Kagome?" he repeated, a little louder.

The two adults shared a look.

"He's covered in dirt and it looks like he hurt himself. Do you see the blood on his arms? It's healed, but I'm worried. I think he tried to kill himself."

The old man looked him over. "He's on drugs."

"I want to see her," he mumbled. "I brought something for Kagome."

Mrs. Higurashi was crying. "Sweetheart, Kagome isn't here anymore. She... She's gone to heaven."

"Oh." He remembered now. But still, it was urgent. She couldn't go away without it. "I want to give it to her. I brought it for her."

With an arm around his shoulder, Mrs. Higurashi led him to the open casket. Kagome was so beautiful. Her white dress made her look like a bride. Sooty lashes fanned over her cheekbones, which were unusually colorless. Inuyasha had to remind himself again that she was dead. He couldn't ask her why she looked so sad because she couldn't talk anymore.

"Can I give this to her?" he asked, showing her mother the notebook. "She always wanted it."

She stared at her daughter's face for a few moments, like she was being sucked in.

"Sure, sweetheart. Kagome would have loved that."

With shaking hands, he slipped the notebook under her crossed arms.

"She looks like an angel." He wanted to touch her, but since he wasn't allowed to in life, he didn’t think he was allowed now.

She smiled. "Yes, an angel. She always was a little angel." Taking him by the arm, she walked him back. "I didn't want to cremate her. Jii-chan says that means her soul is trapped on earth, but I don't think so. Like you said, she's an angel. You can't burn an angel." She dissolved into tears and he stood there, staring at her dully. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You know how I feel, don't you? If you ever need anything, please come to me. We can help each other, okay?"

Inuyasha nodded. "I'll see you." He wasn’t going to stay and watch her surrounded by everyone else. When they were together, it had always just been the two of them. That was how he wanted it to stay. And watching her be put in the ground? Impossible. He would have thrown himself in with her.

As he left, he passed by some of her friends from school. Many were crying, a few openly sobbing, entirely inconsolable.

Her stupid boyfriend was crying, surrounded by her three best friends. “I was running late. I told her to meet me but I lost the ring. It took me ten minutes to find it. And when I found her… It didn’t look like she was dead at first. At first, I thought she was s-sleeping.”

Her friend with the curly hair hugged him. “Are you going to bury the engagement ring with her?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. It was my grandmother’s.”

They continued talking. Inuyasha wanted to punch them, but he just kept walking. The only thing left in the world he valued was that notebook, and he gave it to Kagome. It was what was supposed to give him a future. But he wanted her to have it. She’d always wanted to see it. Maybe if he wasn’t such a pussy, he would have shown it to her. Shown her how “To Kagome” was written on the inner cover. Showed her how every song was for her. The fact that he had given her everything he had and her fucking boyfriend wouldn’t even give her the ring he had been about to present to her anyway just proved that they were supposed to be together.

How was he going to live now that his life was gone?

**O\o/O**

Cocaine mixed with heroine on a thick line between the girl’s bare fake tits. What was her name again? Monica/Erica/Jessica. One of those. He snorted the line and felt nothing. It wasn’t nearly enough to even make him feel it. But luckily he’d had maybe five of those earlier, some pills, and a bottle of vodka. Maybe if he had one more bottle then his head would stop pounding and he would be able to party like a normal fucking person again.

Tossing his wallet at one of the other girls, he said, “Bring us some shots and a couple bottles.”

Gleefully, she scurried off to do as he asked. Inuyasha knew she’d help herself to whatever was left over after she brought the drinks. If she even brought the drinks. Fuck, he hoped she would. There weren’t any cards in the wallet, just some cash. It was a longstanding rule that he leave his real wallet at home when he went out to party. That was where he kept what mattered, like his credit and bank cards. And the most precious thing, the only picture of him and Kagome.

They hadn’t posed for it. It was just one of those school pictures with the senior class standing together. Since he had been short back then, they were next to each other. That was all. But they were together. he’d cut out the tiny part of the photo that held the two of them and always kept it with him. Inuyasha could still remember that first whiff of her scent, how her hair sparkled in the sun, how even though they didn’t know each other she’d laughed and squeezed his hand and said something about how they were going to graduate before they knew it.

Neither of them graduated. Kagome because of what had been done to her and him because he never bothered to go back to school after she was gone.

It was pure luck that he’d landed a record deal. For the week after Kagome’s funeral, he’d been in a perpetual high. He still couldn’t remember anything from that time. But when he ran out of stolen money and therefore out of drugs, he realized that he had indeed been doing more than just passing out in alleyways. He’d been creating.

Some of the songs he’d written were completely unintelligible, some illegible. But the others were powerful. They were _good_. He could hear the music they required in his head, could feel how they were supposed to be sung. Like everything he wrote, they were all about Kagome, but these weren’t love songs, these were mourning songs. The rest of the story was something everyone knew. He convinced Miroku to drop out, too, ‘cause he was the only guy he knew who could play an instrument, even if it was something girly like a piano. He taught himself guitar in a few months and they used software for a drum track. They played shows everywhere that would take them. In less than a year, they were signed and touring the globe.

It happened so fast, and that was good. That way, he didn’t have time to think about Kagome.

But now it was a decade later and the magic had stopped. Their new album was taking forever to finish and he was sure the label was going to drop them if he delayed another year. Sure, he already had a ton of money, but at the rate his drug habit was increasing, it wouldn’t last him long.

Fuck, that bitch really had taken off with just the money, hadn’t she? Now he had nothing to buy drinks with.

“Okay, buddy. Time to go home.”

He shrugged the hand off his shoulder. “You go home!”

Miroku sighed. “Seriously, Inuyasha. We have to go. You’re being kicked out.”

Groaning, he allowed his bandmate to drag him outside. Now that he wasn’t surrounded by the pounding music and confusing scents, his head felt a little better.

“You know Sango hates when I have to come pick you up, dude. You need to control yourself.”

“You didn’t _have_ to come. Coulda told your wife to put those bodyguards she insisted we need to use.” Sango was their manager and somehow had locked down the pervert of all perverts and made him into little more than a house husband.

“The club called me,” he grumbled, buckling Inuyasha into the passenger seat of his own car. “I left a business card in your fake wallet letting people know where to return you.”

“How’d they get my wallet and I still don’t have my fucking drinks?”

“The cops arrested some girl for prostitution outside and they found it on her.”

“I ain’t ever fucking going back there again,” he grumbled. Now he’d have to drink at home.

“I don’t think they’d let you.” Miroku sighed. “Inuyasha, I’ve partied with you and I can see now you’re getting worse. You’ve always had your…habits…but this is a full-blown addiction. You need help.”

Inuyasha snorted. There was no help for him. “What I need is a fucking drink.”

“Maybe…” His friend seemed hesitant. “Maybe if you just talked to someone about Kagome—”

“Don’t.”

“All I’m saying is that it could help. We’ve tried rehab and that didn’t work. Maybe try this.”

He didn’t say anything. How could he explain to someone who was perfectly happy what it felt like to always be hurting unless he was on something? And even then, the pain sometimes broke through. That would just start too real of a conversation, and he already knew what Miroku would say. Get over it. Like he could get over losing the only bright spot in his life. At first, when the fame was new, he thought that maybe somehow he could dull the pain with the success. He met girls, lots of girls, and seriously dated a few. But it only hurt more. The money, the parties, the fame were just more things he could never share with Kagome.

Miroku had continued talking the entire time. “Like I said, she wouldn’t want to see you killing yourself like this. You know how much she cared about everyone. Kagome would want you to move on, get clean, and settle down. To have the kind of life she never had the chance to have.”

The words were driving him crazy. Hearing someone else say the name his heart beat out thousands of times a day was driving him crazy. He needed out. He needed to get out.

“I know how much you loved her, man. You were crazy about her. Hell, we all were. Shit, do you remember that notebook you used to carry around with you everywhere?” He smiled, lost in memories. “And how red your face would get every time she tried to see what was in it? Everyone but Kagome knew you were writing about her.”

That was enough. “ _Stop_!” he yelled, hitting the window. It shattered, slicing his skin, but he didn’t care. It didn’t hurt as much as this did. Nothing hurt as much as remembering, except for maybe not remembering. “Don’t fucking talk about her anymore!”

Miroku swerved onto the shoulder and braked suddenly. “For fuck’s sake, Inuyasha, this car is brand new!” His eyes were hard. “Kagome is dead. She’s gone. _Forever_. Accept it.”

He got out and slammed the door. Miroku didn’t try and stop him. Some friend he was. The car peeled away, leaving shards of broken glass in its wake. Cars honked at him but he ignored them all. It was going to be a long ride home and he was really fucked up.

Maybe Miroku was right. Things had been getting worse lately, especially since his creativity had run dry. It was like he had said all he could about his feelings for Kagome. Just a few minutes before, that thought would have seemed blasphemous. His love for her was limitless. But maybe it was hurting him. Holding on to someone who was no longer there had been taking a toll on him for a while. It was impossible to form new relationships as long as he clung to the idea of Kagome.

Inuyasha remembered the notebook his bandmate had mentioned. The idea of a piece of him being with her always was comforting. But some of those songs had been really good. Really fucking good. It was an entirely different kind of work than he’d produced after what had happened to Kagome. Back then, he had been so full of hope and love. Happy. Even if she wasn’t his, he was hers, and that made him happy. If only he could recapture that feeling, he’d make millions.

There was a way.

He stopped walking just before he entered his neighborhood. Maybe it was the combination of drugs he’d done that night, but he had an idea. A sick idea, but it just might save his life.

All he had to do to get his career and his life back was take the notebook from Kagome.

Checking his phone, he saw it was just past midnight. If he hurried, he could make it to where she was buried by three in the morning. The witching hour. No car. He would go on foot. That way, he’d run into less trouble. Inuyasha was pretty sure he could still run like lightning, even if he wasn’t some stealing punk kid any longer.

He hadn’t seen his hometown since he’d left it all those years ago, but he knew the way by heart. After all, that was where Kagome was. Maybe his muscles were aching, maybe he was sweating like crazy, he wasn’t sure he would be able to tell.

Inuyasha was going to see Kagome again, and that was all that mattered.

His heart was beating so fast, not from the long run, but from the idea of being with her. Ten years had gone by without meeting in places other than his dreams and fantasies. Inuyasha wasn’t so fucked up that he didn’t know what he was going to see. Bones in a moldy dress. But it was still her. And maybe this would do the trick. Maybe he’d finally get over Kagome and that would make Miroku shut up. There was no doubt in his mind that he was always going to love her, always going to carry her as the standard in his heart. The more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea of moving on was. That didn’t mean he had to discard her entirely. Just like before, it would be the two of them in a secret place in his heart. But on the outside, he would finally be able to function as a normal man.

While he knew where she was buried, he had never once been there. It was too much. Even through the haze of the drugs, he was afraid to be there, to see where they had put her. It would be worse than dying himself.

The gate was easy enough to jump. There were a couple cameras, but he darted by them quickly enough that he knew no cheap security film would be able to capture any detail about him other than he was of demonic heritage.

It was dark and lonely in the cemetery. Her grave was in the newer part, which was unfortunately muddy from the recent rain. At last, he found her. She was the youngest in her section. Kagome Higurashi. Died on her eighteenth birthday, right at midnight. There was nothing written but her name and the dates. He guessed her family had been too deep in grief to think of anything else to put. She'd told him that her dad was buried here, but he was probably far away somewhere else. It wasn't like they could have afforded a family plot. That was for people who lived above the poverty line.

Inuyasha guessed he was lucky, because there were a few shovels in an unlocked nearby shed that had been designed to look like a mausoleum, but whatever moron had designed it included windows. Some other gardening equipment was there, and he tried not to make any noise and knock it all over though it had all been put away pretty haphazardly. It was like playing fucking Jenga. After obtaining the shovel without incident, he went back to Kagome. No flowers. No one had brought her any fucking flowers, probably for a while. He wished he had thought ahead and gotten her some.

He didn't need light to see, being a demon, but he wished for the first time in his life that he didn't have such good night vision. It just made it all more difficult. Part of him was horrified that he was desecrating the final resting place of the only one he'd ever loved in such a way. And for what? Some shitty songs he'd written when he was just a kid? He shoved the voice away. They weren't shitty songs. They were Kagome's songs. That meant they were good. He was just going to grab the notebook, try not to look at her too much, and bury her back up. That was it.

It didn't take very long, but then again, he was high and on a mission. Soon, the shovel was scraping against the cheap wooden casket he remembered from that terrible day. Carefully, not wanting to hurt her even though she could no longer be hurt, he jimmied open the side with the end of the shovel. It occurred to him to cover his nose, but he didn't want to. Even if it made him retch, even if it knocked him right out, he had to smell her one last time.

The Kagome inside was certainly not like he had remembered, or even how he had expected.

Fuck, she was more beautiful than the version of her inside his head, than in the picture he had. With shaking hands, he cupped her face. Her beautiful face.

How was she just as whole and fresh as she was when she was alive?

It was like she was only sleeping, but her chest did not rise. So young. She was so sweetly, achingly young. For a moment, he thought that the past ten years were some crazy drug-fueled dream and he was just a broken-hearted teenager gone mad, digging up the fresh grave of the girl he loved more than anything just to see her face again. The wound was torn open again inside him and he felt like he was going to cry. How had he thought the pain before was bad? This was agony. It was all new again, like she had only just been taken from him. No one was as good for him as she was. No one ever would be. He was a fucking idiot for thinking he could ever find someone else. In life, in death, Inuyasha belonged with Kagome.

Fumbling for his phone, he took it out of his pocket. Pictures. He needed pictures so he could remember later on. Things to prove that she was real, that this was real. Finally, he finally had a good picture of her, up close and everything. He only remembered his objective when the screen showed the notebook clutched to her chest in a death grip. It was as preserved as she was. Carefully, he removed it. There. That was it. He had what he came for. He could close the coffin and bury her back up and no one would know he'd been there.

Inuaysha set the book aside. She was so beautiful. What would it hurt if he kissed her? He never got the chance when she was alive. It was all he'd been dreaming about since he was seventeen years old, when he had first seen her. Didn't he deserve at least that after all his years of devotion? Maybe some people would think it was weird or wrong or bad. But nothing could be wrong between the two of them. They were soulmates. Meant to be together, but something had gone wrong. At least now he could do something right.

Leaning down into the coffin, he kissed her cold lips. It should have disgusted him. It should have sobered him up. But all it did was make him hard. He pressed kisses all over her face, always coming back to her lips which no longer seemed so colorless. With a gasp, he tore himself away, just barely able to manage that. Unlike in a fairy tale, his princess did not open her eyes. Okay. Fine. Okay. He did it. He finally did it. He could leave now, couldn't he? Leave her.

He ripped open her dress, making the buttons that ran down the front of it pop off every which way, some in the coffin, some in the dirt. Her breasts bounced in the bra she wore. He clawed through it, staring at her nipples as he began to unbutton his shirt and pants. Kagome was so soft and pliable. He didn’t want to think about how or why or anything, didn’t want to question his actions. He just wanted to be with her. He’d only ever wanted to be with her.

Face wet with tears, he kissed her again, their bare chests touching. In his mind, she was alive and wanting him as much as he wanted her. He plunged his tongue into her cold mouth. It tasted like alcohol and candy. Was that just him or partly her? He couldn’t remember eating gummy bears, but he knew they were her go-to snack. Moaning, he warmed her body with his hands. Why was she so cold? Why was she just lying there? Was she mad at him? Inuyasha didn’t want that. He could handle anything but her being so mad at him.

Kagome’s nipples were hard. Good. She wasn’t stopping him so it looked like she wasn’t that upset. Maybe it was a game. He was just going to have to give her the best fuck of her life so she’d talk to him again. His lips found her breast and he sucked like a baby, grinding his bare dick against her leg.

“I love you so much, Kagome,” he whispered into the waves of her hair, entering her with a groan. Fuck, but she was tight. And a virgin. She had saved herself for him.

She didn’t say anything, but she must have liked what he was doing. The harder he went, the wetter she got, and soon he was on the verge of coming. One hand pinched her nipple, and the other rubbed at her clit. Inuyasha wanted to come with her the first time. He wanted to take care of her, love her forever. He wanted her to know how he felt, so he showed her. Her eyes remained closed and it tore at his heart. Did she think he was just using her? Just using her to get off? Slowing his frantic thrusts, he brought his lips back to hers, losing his fingers in her soft hair. This was about love, not just their needs.

But he was only a man, and her lovely body was so tight around him, her pussy the home he’d never had. Teasing her nipples, he couldn’t stop his hips from picking up the pace, and soon he was spilling inside her. Fuck, he’d make it up to her. He’d eat her out all night long, sit her down on his face and prove how much he loved her.

A light shone down on them.

Enraged at being interrupted, Inuyasha growled at the intruder and sprang to claw them down. No one should ever see Kagome like that but him! When he was almost out of the hole, his claws about to shred the fucker to ribbons, he was pushed back by an invisible force. There was barely any time for him to avoid crashing down into Kagome, but he did. He’d do the impossible for her.

“Are you happy now that you got what you wanted?”

Inuyasha squinted and just made out the face of an old woman that matched the crusty old voice. With her words, reality came back to him. He was half-naked, pants down around his knees in a wet grave with a freshly fucked corpse.

Kagome was dead.

And he was a necrophiliac.

The tears rushed to fall, but he would not let them. Why? Why couldn’t he have just stayed in that beautiful dream a little longer? Had there not been any witnesses, he surely would have recovered himself, realized what he did, and then maybe lain down next to her and finally fucking killed himself. They would rot together. Together forever.

“No,” he whimpered, hands clenching into fists, piercing his skin until the blood ran.

“Then is Kagome not what you wanted?”

He shook his head. “No. I want her. I’ll always want Kagome. But this isn’t her. Not anymore.”

The old crone nodded and smiled. “How does life come to be, Inuyasha?”

“Uh, God?”

The cackle made chills run down his spine. “ _Sex_. Sex is the act that creates life.”

Confused, he glared up at her. “I can’t knock up a fucking corpse!”

She ignored him. “It took you longer than I thought to return to your lover. I had to expend much magic to keep her fresh for you. What will you give me in return?”

Hatred boiled in his veins. “Were you pimping out Kagome’s body!? I’ll fucking kill you!” He tried to lunge at her again but was interrupted by a noise. A soft, feminine snore coming from Kagome.

“What will you give me in return for granting you your heart’s greatest desire?”

Inuyasha stared at Kagome in awe. Color was blooming in her cheeks. She shuddered and brought an arm over her naked breasts.

“Anything,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “I’ll give you anything. Everything. I have a lot of money. You can have it all. Just let me keep her alive forever.”

The old woman leaned down over the grave, lantern swinging, her pale eyes alight with evil. “After every one of your shows on your next tour, I will meet you backstage in your dressing room. Have a beautiful young woman there waiting for me.”

“Why?”

She changed into a beautiful young woman herself. “You don’t want to know. It takes a lot of bad magic to look this good.”

Inuyasha nodded. “Fine. Anything you want. I don’t care what you do as long as I have her.”

She smiled. “It is done. I’ll take care of the grave for you. Leave before sunrise and take your girlfriend with you.”

She faded into darkness, taking the light of her lantern with her. Inuyasha didn’t care if he was crazy and hallucinating or if the drugs had fucked his brain up forever and he was dying in a puddle of his own vomit somewhere. Now he could be with Kagome again. Gathering her and the notebook up in his arms, he leapt out of the grave. It was too late and they looked too suspicious for him to call a car. But that didn’t matter. His heart was singing and her unconscious weight was like a warm nothing as he ran for hours back to his home. The home that he would now share with Kagome.

Heat beating hard not from exertion but rather nervousness that they were going to see each other again for the first time in ten years, Inuyasha laid her down on his bed. Kagome was still sleeping, still breathing. His jacket wasn’t covering much of her and he pulled it back, indulging himself and drinking in the sight of her pussy dribbling his cum. So beautiful. Mesmerized, he reached out and ran his fingers down the soft concave of her stomach.

She opened her eyes.

Sleepy gray met his shocked amber. For some reason, he had expected her to stay asleep for a while. After all, she hadn’t even stirred on the run over.

Kagome screamed.

“Where am I!? I don’t know who you are, but you better take me back home right this instant or I’ll—”

“Inuyasha,” he interrupted. Fuck, but it hurt that she didn’t recognize him. Would she remember him at all? “It’s Inuyasha, Kagome. Calm down.”

She stared at him. “I-Inuyasha?” she whispered, voice hardly more than a breath. “But… You look so tired. And you’re covered in dirt. And you’re…you’re taller.” Her eyes darted around the room and then back to him. “You’re different. You’re too different.”

He tried smiling at her, afraid he would look like a pussy and dissolve into joyful tears at how she was just like she had been. It was her. She really was with him again.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

She snorted. “I just saw you this afternoon, ditcher. Wait, where the hell are my clothes!? What did you do to me!”

Inuyasha figured now was a good time to tell her. He would have told her nicely, but she tried to run. No, he couldn’t let her leave again! Shoving her down on the bed, he covered her body with his, trapping her limbs, covering her mouth with his hand. She continued to struggle, continued to scream, tried to bite him. But there was no way he was letting go. Not ever again.

“Look at me, Kagome,” he said sharply, trying to get her to pay attention. “I look older, don’t I? A lot older. That’s because you’ve been dead for ten fucking years. Everyone’s older but you.”

She gave him a look like he was fucking crazy. Her screams turned to muffled words and so he uncapped her mouth.

“You don’t really believe that, do you, Inuyasha?” she asked, concern coloring her tone as she looked up at him with her big, mesmerizing eyes.

Desperate for her to be on the same page as him, he sighed and tossed her over his shoulder. She wasn’t fighting him, but she was stiff and smelled scared. Going downstairs, he went to his in-home studio.

“I really did become a rock star,” he said, trying not to brag. “Look, here’s our first gold record.” He spun around so she was able to see.

“ _Letters to Kagome_ ,” she read. “It comes out next year?”

“No, we did that nine years ago. Look around, there are others.” He spun her around. The others didn’t have her name, but that didn’t change how very much about her they all were. There were photos of him and Miroku on the walls, too. Photos of them on stage, with other famous people, clippings of them and their interviews from magazines.

“Put me down!”

His obedience was automatic. The moment her feet touched to the floor, she sank down, pulling the jacket she still clung to over herself. Kagome looked lost. She looked scared. She looked like she needed him.

Inuyasha wasn’t a kid anymore. He wasn’t afraid to tell her what he was feeling. That behavior had cost him so much happiness before. It had ruined his life. Now that he had her back, he was going to finally make things right between them. He knelt in front of her.

“Kagome, I know this is hard, but I’m with you. I can take care of you for the rest of our lives. I’ve always loved you, you know? Ever since I first saw you, I loved you.” His passion was taking over him and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and smelling her hair. Fuck, but she smelled good underneath all the grave dirt. “You’re the only one I’ve ever loved. We have another chance to be together. Kagome, we can do all the things we were too scared to do before.”

She pushed away from him. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on.” Her voice was thin and tight and it was obvious she was near tears. “I mean, I know you’re Inuyasha, and I can see how you’re so much older and bigger now, but I don’t know…” She started to cry and he moved to hold her again but she put a hand up, stopping him. “I don’t know what kind of relationship you thought we had back…back then, but to me, we were just tutor and pupil. For hell’s sake, I even got tutoring you to count as my service hours!”

Her words cut him. Killed him. It was like she was dead all over again. The person he thought she was was dead. Worse, she had never existed. But Kagome wasn’t finished yet.

“I can feel it!” she screamed out of nowhere, making him jump. “It hurts. My body hurts inside. Inuyasha, how could you? What did you do to me? Why? Why?” Whatever she said next was unintelligible, too garbled by tears and pain.

It wasn’t like he could explain to her how it hadn’t been rape. She wasn’t even alive at the time! What could he do to make her stop thinking like that? What could he do to make her stop crying? Fuck, but she had no reason to be crying. She wasn’t the one who’d had to live with her heart sawed in half only to realize it had never been whole, that what she thought would complete her was just a big fat lie. Her hysterical sobs were grating on his ears and he grabbed her again, grabbed her by the wrists. She screamed and struggled when he forced her to her feet, and she refused to walk. So he dragged her, the sounds her kicking legs made as they hit the floor matching up with his heart beat.

He threw her into the shower just hard enough to disorient her, turning on the water as hot as it would go. Then he got in with her, taking his clothes off inside. Inuyasha blocked the door, holding her struggling form against him and under the water. It had to be done. They had to get clean. They had to wash off what had happened in the grave so they could make a new start. One arm locked around her waist, he grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squeezed what was left of it over both their heads. Kagome had stopped struggling and was only crying now.

Being extra careful with his claws, he washed the dirt from her hair before doing his own. With the leftover soap, he washed her body, passing his hands over every part of her. She went completely still, allowing him to finish the job sooner that he thought, which was kind of disappointing. With a mind of their own, his hands kept rubbing her body long after the soap suds were rinsed away. He felt himself grow hard again and was glad his jeans separated them or she would be really mad. Still, he began to work his hips against her ass.

“I’m going to make you love me,” he promised, licking the shell of her ear before sucking her earlobe. Kagome craned her neck to the other side, trying to get as far away from him as possible, but it only served to let him suck on her throat. His right hand was overflowing with her full breast and he felt how hard her nipple was. “See? Your body already does.”

To his surprise, she turned in his arms. Her black hair was slicked back with the water, tendrils waving down her chest and over her breasts. Droplets of water glittered on her eyelashes like diamonds.

“You’re right,” she said quietly.

Inuyasha just barely stopped his mouth from dropping open. He was?

Kagome pressed a kiss to his chest and he nearly keeled over. “I always liked you, Inuyasha.” His arm loosened around her waist and she didn’t run but instead circled her own arms around his neck. “Even though I have a boyfriend, it’s you I think about when I touch myself. Every morning and every night.” He swore he would have come in his pants if he hadn’t fucked her already earlier. Licking her lips, her eyes met his. “You were the perfect bad boy. Everyone else was so afraid of you that they didn’t notice how handsome you are. I’d imagine you coming to my room in the middle of the night, tying me up, stuffing my panties in my mouth and taking my virginity. _Hard_.” She dragged her fingers down his chiseled abdomen to his navel, right above where his pants buttoned. “It looks like you finally did it. But I just wish I could have been there, too.”

That was too much for him and he broke. He had to give her what she wanted. What they both wanted. Didn’t she deserve to have her wishes granted, too? Sex would be infinitely better with a present Kagome, he knew that. This was more like what he’d pictured life with her would be like. She was sexy and mouthy and pushy and bossy and _sexy_ and he loved it. He loved her.

Taking her lips with his, he overwhelmed her with his kiss. She cried out in surprise and he remembered that he was no longer a teenager. Ten years of living, of learning, of growing up had come between them. Maybe she wasn’t ready for such intensity. It wasn’t like Hojo had been giving her anything even remotely close to what he was about to do to her. But he didn’t know how to fuck her any other way. Inuyasha reminded himself that this wasn’t just some groupie. This was Kagome. This was the girl he had been imagining during every sexual encounter he’d ever had. He had to make this good.

Kagome shrieked when he picked her up bridal style and dashed out of the shower without turning it off. Bed. That was all he could think. He had to fuck her in a bed. Thank the gods the maid had washed his sheets earlier yesterday and he hadn’t come home in time to ruin them with some stinking whore. Now his bed, his room, his body would smell of Kagome, his beautiful living dead girl.

The moment her back hit the silk sheets, he was kissing her. Never would he ever get enough of her mouth. And she kissed him back this time. She was so inexperienced that it overjoyed him. So her relationship with Hojo was not as mature as he thought. It was him who’d be her introduction to all things of a sexual nature. The way it should be.

His pants were so sopping wet from the shower that he was able to slip them right off. Kagome didn’t notice, too preoccupied from trying to keep up with his onslaught of kisses, her eyes hazy and her lips swollen. His fingers longed to be inside her and so he satisfied them, memorizing the sound of her little cry as he penetrated her for what would be the first time in her memory. His lips puckered remembering the taste of her nipples and they wandered down her chin and neck and chest until he was sucking them, moaning contentedly. Kagome gasped and arched into his mouth.

Her fingers flew to his ears and he stopped, suddenly self-conscious. In high school, he had always hidden them under a hat. Even though kids didn’t tease him like they did back in elementary school (because they knew he’d put them in a fucking coma), he still had a complex about them. In recent years, he’d pretty much gotten over it, but now he was that same shy teenager again.

“Mmm, I love your ears. I’ll suck them at the same time as you suck me, okay?”

Fuck, but he hadn’t expected it to feel so good when she put the tip of his ear in her mouth. Satisfied drool covered her nipple and he spread it around, loving the way it shone in the light and proved she was his. Kagome was mewling now, the vibrations as she licked his ear every which way driving him crazy. She was so wet now, so nice and hot, that he could no longer resist her. Quickly ducking away from her seeking little mouth, he took his first taste of her pussy.

This was paradise.

They moaned in unison and he stabbed his tongue inside her cunt, getting her even more worked up. Her hips gyrated and he didn’t bother to hold her down, loving the mess she made of his face with her pussy juice. Since he felt prolonging things would have just angered them both, he sucked her clit hard and fast, flicking his tongue against it. Kagome shrieked and clawed at his shoulders, pulling him into her, pushing him away, sobbing his name. It was a scene of insanity. It was perfect.

His face a mess, Inuyasha knelt. Now it was his turn. Kagome was still coming, still shaking from her powerful orgasm, eyes full of tears of pleasure. Stroking himself a couple times to the sight of her, still not quite believing this was anything more than the best dream he’d ever had, he pushed inside her. She raised herself up on her elbows and worked her hips, throwing her head back and biting her lip as she whimpered. With each little thrust, her tits bounced.

“Play with yourself for me,” he pleaded. So many of his fantasies for the past ten years had been of her masturbating, eternally a naughty schoolgirl.

Thank fuck she didn’t try to argue. Instead, she stuck her fingers in her mouth, sucking and looking him right in the eye before reaching between them and rubbing her clit in circles. Immediately, she tightened around him, so close to coming again. With a groan, he sped up his thrusts. The next time she came, he wanted to be right there with her. It wasn’t difficult with how much he wanted her combined with the little show she was putting on. Squeezing her tits together, massaging them, tweaking her hard little nipples. It was enough to end the thing in mere minutes. Thankfully, she was just as turned on as he was, and when he snarled the moment his orgasm hit him, she was already starting to ride her own. Inuyasha continued to pump into her, prolonging her experience.

“You’re the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” he croaked, careful not to collapse on top of her. Instead, he rolled to the side, bringing her with him, still connected.

She tweaked his ear. “You were pretty good, too.”

Barking out a laugh, he snuggled closer to her. “I love you, Kagome. I promise this life will be a million times better than your old one.”

Kagome said nothing.

For the first time in years, he didn’t need any mind-altering substances to help him fall asleep. Her scent was enough.

**O\o/O**

When he woke up a couple hours later, he was entirely sober and entirely alone.

At first, he panicked. It really had been a dream. He really didn’t have anything to live for. But there was definitely the smell of sex in the room, and there was no way he’d forget how Kagome smelled. She was real. It had all really happened.

The bitch had taken his real wallet and run.

Growling, he picked his still damp pants up off the floor. How had he been so fucking stupid? ‘Cause it sure as fuck wasn’t just the drugs that had made him so blindly trusting. He knew well how dumb love made a person. Tugging on a shirt, he grabbed the keys to his fastest car. He should have tied her up. Should have chained her to the bed. Should have given her some pills to knock her out. Anything so that she wouldn’t run away.

On the plus side, there was only one possible place she’d be headed.

The drive to the shrine was fairly quick but it felt like it took agonizingly long. He didn’t know exactly when she had left. He didn’t know if anyone in their hometown had recognized her upon her arrival. He didn’t know what he was going to do if her family wanted her back.

There must have been a god or gods, because she wasn’t even halfway up the shrine steps when he found her. Pulling over, he practically flew to her, grabbing her around the waist and covering her mouth. Predictably, she kicked at him and was loud as fuck even when muted, which was really not helping his hangover. Landing in the tree outside what had once been her bedroom window, he shook her as hard as he dared.

“Shut the fuck up!” he hissed. Now that he wasn’t all fucked up, he was a little less sentimental and a little more practical. “What do you think is going to happen to you if your family sees you?”

Kagome turned big, teary gray eyes on him and he gulped. Fuck, but he had to stay strong. Since she looked like she had something to say, he removed his hand, keeping it at the ready just in case she decided to get noisy.

“Everything’s changed, Inuyasha,” she whispered. Fat tears ran down her cheek. “Nothing’s where it used to be. I wanted to see if they were the same.”

He sighed. Really, he hadn’t wanted to do this.

“Look.” He inclined his head in the direction of what had been her bedroom window.

She did and her face fell. It was nothing more than a storage room, now. None of her things remained.

“That’s what happens when people die, Kagome. The living go on with their lives.” Except for him. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry, making soft mournful sounds that broke his heart. “Sōta’s twenty-one now. Older than you. They’re happy, but that doesn’t mean they forgot about you. I know you don’t want to confuse them or scare them and bring all that hurt from your death back.”

“But now I’m all alone!” she howled. He hoped no one was home. “Why am I here if I can’t be with my family?”

Inuyasha put his arms around her, holding her fragile human body close. “You’re not alone, Kagome. I’m your family now.”

They stayed like that for a little while, hiding from the sun and the rest of the living world in the tree branches that had sheltered his teenage self during the times he’d dropped in on her without her knowledge. He didn’t know how much time passed before she dried her eyes and wiped her nose on his very expensive Armani shirt that she wore as a dress.

“Take me back home, Inuyasha.”

The drive back was silent. Kagome stared out the window, but he didn’t think she was really seeing anything. When they got back home, she just stood in the foyer, not sure what to do.

Inuyasha guessed it was time. “I wanna show you something.” Fuck, but he was already embarrassed.

Giving him a curious look at his odd tone, Kagome followed him upstairs. Next to his room was a room he normally kept locked, the key on a chain around his neck. Taking it off, he unlocked the door and flung it open. She gasped.

“My room! My stuff! Everything’s here!”

It made him happy to see her dart around the room and pick things up, holding stuffed animals, going through her desk drawer, looking in the closet. He couldn’t give her old life back, but he could at least do this.

“I bought it all a few years back,” he said, still standing in the doorway, not wanting to again violate something precious to her. “Your family was having some money problems.” That was nothing new. “So we made a deal. I got everything of yours except the photos and they got enough money to live off of for years, plus I pay all the bills until Sōta graduates college and gets a job.”

Kagome looked up at him from where she was sitting on her bed, clutching a stuffed rabbit to her chest.

“You did that because of me?” Her eyes were shining with awe.

He nodded. What he didn’t tell her and never would was how he brought eighteen-year-old girls with long black hair home and made them dress in her clothes and act out his fantasies of her. Every item of clothing she owned had been worn by some slut while he fucked them, everything except for her undergarments. He kept them untouched, pure, wanting to preserve the faint scent he convinced himself still remained on them. Her bed, too. Never did he allow any of the sluts to go near where Kagome had lain her precious head every night. Strands of her hair still lay on her pillowcase.

“Inuyasha, I don’t know what to say.” Her brow furrowed. “You’ve done some awful things, like really awful, but that… I don’t know. It doesn’t make up for it, but it makes me like you again.”

The thought that she had ever stopped liking him made him sick. “Kagome, I’m so fucking sorry,” he whispered, throat tight. Tears gathered in his eyes and there was nothing he could do to stop them from falling. “I was so fucked up last night. So fucked up. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. Like this wasn’t real. You weren’t real. I was crazy. But I swear, I’ll be good to you and never touch you or drugs again. I just want you to be happy.”

For the first time in ten years, she gave him a smile. “I want the same for you.”

“Hey, Inuyasha, I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have left you— Fuck.”

Miroku stood in the entrance to the room, staring right at Kagome. Inuyasha wasn’t sure what to do, what to say. A girl long dead in the middle of an exact copy of her room.

“Uh, this is Kikyo, Miroku. We met last night. She gave me a ride back home.”

He was still staring at her. “She looks…” His voice sounded old. Panicking, Inuyasha bro-punched him in the upper arm and widened his eyes like he didn’t want him to mess this up. “I mean, nice to meet you. Sorry to barge in on you two like this. I can go, if you want.”

Inuyasha stopped him. First, business. “Before you go, I had a stroke of genius last night. I really hit rock bottom and it made me remember how I used to be before, you know, everything.” He really didn’t want to talk about how messed up he’d been after Kagome’s death in front of Kagome. “Come on, my notebook’s in the recording studio.”

Miroku straight up giggled as soon as they were downstairs. “Holy shit, dude, you finally found yourself the perfect replacement Kagome.”

He shushed the idiot. “Whatever you do, don’t talk about that in front of her. I’ve got a good thing going and I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“No problem, bro. Now is this the kind of genius work that’ll get the label off our backs?”

**O\o/O**

Months passed and the album was done. They were going on tour right away, their first one in what felt like forever.

“Do I want to go? Duh! I’ve always wanted to be on a tour bus!” Kagome was so excited that all she could do was talk about the places they’d go and things she wanted to do there.

Inuyasha was glad she wanted to come. There was no way he was going to leave her behind, and kidnapping her would have probably strained their fragile relationship to the point of breaking.

Things had gotten better between them bit by bit. They ate all their meals together, and unless he was working on recording or going to interviews, they were never apart. Sometimes he took her out for ice cream and shopping and romantic dinners that he swore were just friendly, no strings attached, but he always made sure she was wearing some pretty dramatic make-up and sunglasses and a scarf or something. Paranoia that someone would recognize her plagued him every moment they weren’t safe at home.

Most of the time, it was like they were kids again. They teased and bickered and he fucked up at flirting and she was oblivious. Just like the good ole days. They never talked about her death, even though he would have thought she’d wanted to know what happened to her since she claimed she couldn’t remember that night. They never talked about how she came back to life. They never talked about his instance of necrophilia. They never talked about the amazing sex they’d had that first night when she just wanted to get away from him and would have done anything, even make him believe that she returned his feelings, to do it.

Inuyasha hadn’t touched drugs or alcohol since that night. Miroku and Sango were surprised. He gave “Kikyo” all the credit for that and so they didn’t object to her moving in with him on the first night they met. They probably felt really fucking sorry for him. Head over heels for a girl that looked just like the dead teenager he’d had the worst crush on in high school. At least they didn’t know he wasn’t fucking her. That would just make him feel too pathetic.

Their first show in years was sold out, and they opened with a song from their new album, _I Found Her._ Sure, it was a more than obvious title and a desperate attempt at winning even a little affection from Kagome, but he couldn’t help it. And fuck, did the crowd love it. The album was already topping the charts and it was projected to be an even bigger hit than their debut.

After the show, he ran backstage escape the lights and sounds and mostly to see her face. Kagome was beaming at him, dressed in new clothes they’d bought together earlier that day. The skirt was too short and the top was too tight and low-cut but fuck did it look amazing on her. Her hair was down in her customary tumble of waves and her leather boots went over her knees. Barely wearing any make-up since no lipstick could produce a prettier shade than her natural one, she was a vision.

Inuyasha hadn’t had sex since that night.

It seemed like all he did now was masturbate. Even in his sleep, he masturbated. Her voice, her scent, her essence was in everything and he could not escape, didn’t want to escape. Living with her was the most beautiful agony he could have conceived of. It was torture to have breakfast with her while she wore nothing but a cropped tank and panties, no bra. Asinine comments always ran through his head about what he’d like to be eating instead. And he couldn’t stop staring. He knew it was creepy, but it was impossible. Things were getting so bad that he vowed he was going to get laid on every stop of this tour. Secretly, of course.

The first girl that flashed him that evening normally would have been one of the ones he’d take back to the hotel, but he’d slipped her a note in between songs to meet him in his dressing room, signing it so the guards would let her. He wasn’t going anywhere near his dressing room tonight. He remembered his promise.

Suddenly, he felt drained. He texted Miroku that he was skipping out on the meet and greet, something he rarely did, and was going back to the hotel. Kagome went with him of her own free will. That was surprising. He would have thought she’d want to stay and have fun and put up a fight and he’d have to carry her to the Uber.

They shared a room. Since she hadn’t objected when he mentioned it, he made it that way for the rest of the tour. He was only torturing himself and he knew it, but maybe she had turned him into a masochist.

Kagome sank down into the fluffy heaven of a bed and moaned. The sound was so sexual and went straight to his cock. Just to be doing something, he turned on the television and flipped to a random channel. It was a music station and they were playing one of his latest songs. Groaning, he was about to turn it off, but Kagome spoke up.

“Leave it. I like this one.”

That perked him up a little. They had never talked about his music before. Maybe now he could start the conversation and get her thinking about him in a deeper way. Inuyasha sat down beside her, trying not to stare at how her breasts were almost falling out of her top.

“This is the first one I wrote about you.” It was a secret and so he whispered. “After I first saw you at picture day.”

The lyrics were sensual and the music was dark. She smiled at him and turned on her side, making her tits smash together, nipples poking at the fabric. Gods, he should just walk around wearing a condom because he never knew when she was going to make him come in his pants like a fucking twelve-year-old.

“How many songs have you written about me?”

“Hundreds.”

“So that’s what was in your notebook, huh? Love songs? Fuck songs?”

“Yes.” His mouth was so dry so suddenly.

She toyed with the first button on her top. The useless thing slid out of its slit, exposing part of her lacy bra.

“You know, I wasn’t lying in the shower that time. I had indecent thoughts about you, too. Lots and lots. If I could write, I would’ve had at least two notebooks full.”

Instantly, he was hard as a rock. “Yeah?” Why the fuck couldn’t he say anything else!?

She sat up and leaned closer to him. “Yeah.” Always in his face, and now he knew she knew how it affected him. Damn her. Damn her beautiful face and pretty smell and delicious body. Damn her to hell so he could spend even the afterlife with her. “The first time I saw you was sophomore year. Your bandana blew away and someone made fun of your ears. You didn’t say a thing, you just hit him once and he went right down, his face covered in blood. I don’t know how, but it got me so wet. Your bandana blew to the bench Hojo and I were sitting on and I kept it. I stuffed it in my mouth that night while I fingered myself so no one could hear me moan.” Her eyes were bright and alive, staring at him intensely.

Inuyasha swallowed. Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck_. He’d seen that bandana in her collection of things when he’d bought them, but it hadn’t even entered his mind that it was the one he’d lost so long ago. Wow. Sophomore year. So she’d liked him even longer than he’d liked her.

“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?”

He cleared his throat. “You’re really making this really difficult for me.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Difficult? _I’m_ making this difficult?” Suddenly, he was on his back and she was straddling him. “You’re the one who’s always making this difficult, idiot. _I’m_ making it easy.” In one swift movement, her shirt and bra were off and he was staring at her bare tits topped with hard nipples eager to be sucked. “What do you think I want you to do when I walk around the house practically naked? When I leave the bathroom door open when I shower? When I tell you I had a nightmare and crawl into your bed?” They were eye to eye, the tips of their noses touching. “I want you to _fuck_ me, Inuyasha.”

Those were the magic words.

In no time, he had her face down on the bed, arms pinned behind her back, ass up in the air. No panties. Fuck, she wasn’t wearing panties. He would have gone down on her, but she was so wet already and he was so hard it was hurting. Had she been playing with herself while watching him perform? Fuck, there was a new fantasy.

Her pussy juice was running down her thighs and he wondered how she could have possibly hidden such a deep need to be fucked from him. Slipping inside her was like coming home. Gods, it was bliss. Pure bliss. The way she squeezed him, how she unashamedly backed up into him was enough to have him lose his rhythm and just start hammering at her like a fucking inexperienced kid all over again. Pulling back on her hair hard, she squealed and moaned his name into the blankets, one hand furiously rubbing at her clit and the other alternating between her nipples. His claws pierced her ass and tiny trickles of blood ran down her skin. Neither of them noticed. Inuyasha was quickly approaching his climax, and by the feel of how tight she was around him, so was Kagome. His hand joined hers on her clit, forcing her to come. As she screamed his name, he lost himself to his instincts and bit her hard on the shoulder, the feeling of her flesh between his teeth drawing his orgasm from him.

This was permanent now.

He gathered her into his arms, kissing her sweaty brow. Kagome was touching every part of him she could reach and finally seduced his lips to hers, where they twirled tongues for a moment. It was like she hadn’t been even remotely satisfied. The thought of her being insatiable after having craved his dick for months got him horny again and then he was tasting her nipples, sucking the sweet buds into hard little peaks, rubbing them against his cheeks, thoroughly in love and obsessed with every part of her.

“I wanted to ask you something, actually.”

She drew her fingertip down the inside of his ear and he shuddered, moaning in response so she knew he heard.

“I want to go to college.”

Inuyasha froze.

It was another trick. Kagome had lured him into a false sense of security again and was trying to leave him. Wasn’t breaking his heart all the times she had done it enough? How long had he been her slave now? It felt like all his life. Wasn’t that good enough?

“How the fuck could you say something like that?” he asked in agony.

She only looked confused. “Well, shouldn’t I? I can’t just lay around all day keeping myself available for you. I have a new life. I need to make use of it.”

He barely heard her. She was going to leave him. Kagome was going to leave him. After everything he had done for her, she was just abandoning him, leaving him all alone again to die. Not again. He wouldn’t be without her again.

“We can still live together. I meant everything I said. But I have to do something for myself.”

She was lying. Why was she always leaving him? Why couldn’t she just let him love her?

“What are you doing, Inuyasha? Inuyasha?”

His hands were around her throat, squeezing, covering the precious mating mark he had given her. This time, it was going to be together. Live or die, they were supposed to be together.

Kagome’s tears hit his skin and suddenly her gagging sounds were so loud, so terrible. In horror, he removed his hands from her throat. She looked at him like she didn’t know who he was anymore. Inuyasha felt the same way. They stayed there, still entwined, still nude, just staring at each other, predator and prey and unsure of who was who. Tearing himself away from her, he stumbled out of the room, pulling on his pants along the way.

The bar he showed up at didn’t care that he was shirtless and barefoot. He was a fucking rock star! Soon, the place was packed. People had called their friends. Woodenly, he posed for pictures and signed autographs. All he wanted to do was drink. All he wanted to do was forget. He thought someone asked him if he was okay, or maybe that was just that voice in his head, the one that sounded like Kagome. Kagome. He wanted to drink until he could forget about Kagome. Even though that hadn’t worked in all the ten fucking years he’d been trying.

**O\o/O**

When he got back to the hotel the next night, Kagome was gone. It was what he had expected. Good for her. He’d keep giving the old witch the sacrifices. Anything to keep her alive. Gods above and below, he was her slave.

What he didn’t expect was Miroku.

“The fuck are you doing here?” He was still drunk. He’d come to realize for the thousandth time that alcohol could not possibly erase her from his mind unless he drunk enough to kill himself, and good luck doing that as a half-demon with high tolerance.

“You left your phone. I was worried.”

Something about his tone put him on edge. “Okay? Thanks.”

Miroku didn’t give him back his phone. “I looked through your pictures. I was bored and thought hey, maybe Inuyasha has a couple dirty pics of his new girlfriend. That would be pretty sweet. And you did.” His hands were shaking and he threw the phone like it was on fire. “Kikyo is Kagome, isn’t she? Isn’t she!?”

Inuyasha went cold. “What are you saying?”

“I saw it. I saw the pictures of you in that fucking grave. It was Kagome’s grave, Inuyasha. I remember her casket. I remember the dress she was buried in. I remember fucking all of it, even your fucking notebook!” He was panting now, torn between anger and fear. “I don’t know what you did, but this is so fucked up. You brought her back. You took her peace away from her. You’re fucking a dead—” His eyes went wide and he stopped. It was like he was being choked, but there was nothing that could have possibly been making that happen. Inuyasha was helpless as he watched his only friend turn blue and pass out.

“I remembered everything, Inuyasha.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes so he could see her clearly. “K-Kagome? You came back?” He stumbled to his feet and went to her. She was sober, she could drive. “We need to get Miroku to the hospital. Something happened and he—”

“It was you, Inuyasha.” Her eyes were full of tears and she held a hand to her trembling lips. “You were the one who did this to me.”

“What are you talking about?” Was she trying to say that he killed her? But that was stupid. He would never hurt her. He loved her.

“I remembered when you choked me. It was just like in the park. When you came up to me and covered my eyes and-and-and—”

And Inuyasha remembered.

The thought of Kagome losing her virginity to Hojo had been driving him crazy. Why? Why was she with that fucker who couldn’t love her a fraction of the amount he did? It was stupid. It was all so stupid. He’d stolen a shit ton of vodka and drank it straight from the bottle, waiting in the park. Why else would Kagome have told him unless she wanted him to stop it? Unless she wanted him to finally stop playing games and prove he was a real man? It was cold but he didn’t feel it. The thought of how soon he’d be holding Kagome close was enough to warm him, along with the liquor.

A few minutes before midnight, there she was, standing there and eating gummy bears. It made him angry that she was dressed so nicely, in a pink and gold dress with a low neckline like some kind of perfect unreal princess. But maybe she’d dressed for him, not her boyfriend. She knew that he was going to be there, after all, since it was her who wanted him to stop it. Yeah, she was dressing for him.

Drunkenly, he stumbled over to her, covering her eyes with his hands.

“Guess who,” he whispered, but she didn’t hear over her shriek.

“Let go of me you pervert!” Kagome elbowed him in the gut. Normally, it wouldn’t have even phased him, but he hadn’t been expecting it.

“Ow, fuck!”

“Inuyasha?” She gaped at him, confused. “What are you doing here?”

“’M here ta stop it,” he mumbled. She was so pretty. So sparkling and pretty.

“You’re here to what? Are you drunk?” She sighed. “You are so much better than this, Inuyasha.”

“I love you!” he burst out. There. He’d finally said it. “Kah-goh-meh. Kagome. I love you, Kagome. That’s why—that’s why you should be my girlfriend instead of his. Because. Because I love you.”

Her face was bright red. “Inuyasha, you need to stop. You’re so drunk, you don’t know what you’re saying. Even if I did return your feelings, and I’m not saying I do, there’s no way I could break up with Hojo now and be with you. It would give Jii-chan a heart attack. A shrine girl dating a half-demon? I’d be kicked out!”

Inuyasha still had enough comprehension left to understand why things weren’t going the way he’d pictured them. It always came down to _that_. To being a fucking half-demon. His hands clenched into fists and he began to shake.

“I thought you were different!” he hissed, humiliated at the tears running down his face. “I thought you were honest.”

Her face softened. “Inuyasha, I—”

Whatever it was, he didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear her say anything to him ever again. No more lies. His hands wrapped around her throat and squeezed. Since her face had already been red from how humiliating an experience being confessed to by a dirty half-breed was, it was hard to tell when exactly she really began feeling the loss of air. Her eyes were full of horror, full of betrayal, mirroring his own. At last, they were being honest. At last, they were sharing the same feelings.

When her heart stopped beating, he laid her down on the bench where just earlier that day she’d sought him out and sat with him. Then he finished the rest of the bottle and snuck back into the group home, where he woke up the next morning with no memory of even having been in the park. His brain wouldn’t allow him to remember doing something so horrible.

But now it did.

Inuyasha fell to his knees. That was why he drank. That was why he did drugs. It wasn’t just because he’d loved and lost, but because he had been the one who had taken Kagome away from him, away from everyone.

“I loved you then, Inuyasha,” she said, kneeling next to him and taking his undeserving body into her arms. “But I cared too much about what everyone thought and seeing you like that scared me. It was like everything people said about you was confirmed. Then you scared me again when you brought me back.” Cradling his face in her hands, she kissed him, and it was a peek at redemption. “You gave me this life, Inuyasha. It belongs to you. Tsubaki and I will protect you forever.”

At her soothing touch, he forgot what he had been so upset about. Something to do with Kagome… But she was here and she was smiling at him.

Everything was good.

**And that concludes Shot Week! I know everyone’s pissed off because I haven’t updated TTC and yet somehow found the time to post 7 freaking one-shots, but the difference is that I want TTC to be good. I want to actually work on it, and that takes time. I’m going to try and update it before the year is out, but remember that I’m a student and writing my thesis and I’m also a lab assistant and friend and so many other things. The other stories will be updated, too. I’m always working on them and I don’t abandon things (not even Forget the Storm). I’m not like the other fanfic writers, bae(s). We have a special relationship. I’m never gonna give you up, let you down… You know the drill.**

**Please review so I know you’re there! I’d like to know which one of these was your favorite. For me, I like the way Hagne Kore was written the best, but I like the idea of There Is No Love Like the First Love most.**


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